


Birth of the Deck Master

by Key_and_WolfStar_SCA



Series: Deck Master [1]
Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Adaptation, F/F, F/M, M/M, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 15:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 45,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4671515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Key_and_WolfStar_SCA/pseuds/Key_and_WolfStar_SCA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a prequel to Harry Potter and the Deck Master explaining the changes that took place to the end of the manga. It is written in four parts: The altered manga ending, the Yukito/Touya side story, the movie adaption, and the Syaoran side story (still being written).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Friends Departing

Birth of the Deck Master

Prequel to Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Chapter One: Friends Departing

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is owned by the four lovely ladies of CLAMP and was originally published by Kodansha comics.

Hell-of-a-long-AN: It came to my attention over the years that I never really gave too clear an explanation on what I was really changing in the manga. As I said in the first real chapter, the original story was anime-centric but I changed my mind due to the difficulties of dealing with 50-some cards and Meiling’s “squib-ness”.

So instead, dealing with only changing a few key points at the very end of the manga and tagging on an altered version of the second movie so I could explain away everything that the altered manga ending didn’t, I created my story.

It was in the years that followed that I realized that I wouldn’t just be able to get away with avoiding writing it out, that it would make things much more complicated in writing the story if I tried to do so. And so instead, without further ado, I present you with the story that lead up to my story. We open in the summer of 1995, Card Captor Sakura book 12, page 31…

* * *

School had just let out, and the bustle of everyone leaving. People were calling goodbye to friends and heading to clubs with others. As a whole the world was the same happy place it had always been around her, but for Sakura there was a distinct difference. Ever since a few days ago, when she had finally mastered the last of the cards and turned them into Sakura Cards, her world seemed both upside-down and for the first time in her life like it was finally right.

Her father was one half of the reincarnation of Clow Reed, she was currently solidifying her relationship with his other half—a boy in her class, Eriol. Her brother and Yukito were in love with each other—even if they had yet to work out the details with each other, she was positive she was right on the matter—and she was surrounded on all sides by friends who supported her despite her differences from average, non-magical people.

Yes, life right now had been going very good for her, though not normal by other people’s terms she felt that she could become perfectly happy if her life continued in this way for the rest of eternity. But then there had been that announcement made to the class today that was currently shattering her perfect little world. Eriol, her friend and one she felt truly comfortable with, was leaving for England again at the end of the week. She would miss him so much, and she had just began to get to know his guardians, and to not see Mizuki-sensei anymore again…

To think that Eriol and Mizuki-sensei knew each other. It truly was a small world, connected together by the fate of nineteen cards. Slowly pulling on her roller blades, Sakura got to her feet and started home at a slow glide. She supposed she ought to tell her father and Yukito that Eriol was leaving; they both had the right to know as to one he was their old master and to the other his other half. Still, her heart was heavy with the idea of being charged with such a task, and just when everything seemed to finally be working out for the best.

She hadn’t even gotten half a block when she felt a sort of tingle on her back. She was being watched, she quickly came to realize, and it was a warm and familiar sort that she had become very accustomed to in the last year or so. These eyes on her made her feel so safe, watching her back, keeping her protected, being her strength and aid and mentor when she needed it… “Syaoran-kun…?” she murmured to herself as she turned to see if she wasn’t just imagining things.

Surely enough, there he stood, still by the gates and looking at her in a strange mixture of the sorrow he had presented this morning and surprise at her turning to spot him without his even calling out to her. Smiling radiantly, she hurried back to him. He’s what she needed right now, a dear friend that she could talk to openly without hiding anything! Yes, he would be perfect! “Syaoran-kun!” she cheered when she finally reached him. “I knew it was you!”

His cheeks went very red again; he seemed to do that a lot when she smiled at him and part of her absently wondered why. “How… did you know?”

“I just did!” she told him honestly. She didn’t know why she always just knew when he was looking at her, but it seemed so natural that she did and that it was him, so she never much bothered questioning it. “Do you want to walk home with me?”

“Sure,” was his simple response.

For a long while they just chattered about nothing at all, and then fell into a lapse of silent companionship until they were just to the side of the King Penguin’s playground. Finally Sakura voiced the thing that had been bothering her the most. “Eriol-kun… it will be sad when he returns to England…”

Syaoran looked downhearted as he lowered his head and said a quiet “Yeah…” in response to her.

Realizing this may be the wrong thing to talk to him about if it made him so sad, she fished around in her head for something else to change the subject to instead. “Oh! The talk…” she recalled, “you were going to tell me something once Tokyo Tower was over. What is it?”

He kept on walking a few more feet before finally coming to a stop himself and taking off his hat. They stood there like that for a few moments before he turned and looked at her with the uncertain eyes he would sometimes give her. She tried to reassure him with a smile and waited patiently for him to get his thoughts in order.

“Ore… ore wa… omae ga… (1)” he began, then stopped. His cheeks were red again, but he also looked so sad and lost that Sakura felt the strange urge to hurry forward and hug him. “Iie, never mind. It’s nothing. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway, not after this morning.”

“This morning? You mean with Eriol-kun?”

“Iie. The phone call I got that kept me late for class…” he explained, and she patiently waited for him to continue. “Mu qin (2)—that is, Okaa-sama—she said it was time for me to go back home… back to Hong Kong, I mean…”

Sakura was horrified, this couldn’t be happening! “Syaoran-kun…”

“I came to Japan because the Clow Cards were scattered…” he began in way of explanation for the reasonings.

“Demo, demo! Even after the cards were gathered, you…!”

“Because afterwards something still happened,” he reminded her, smiling with a sad sort of fondness. “But now that’s over too. The Clow Cards have become the Sakura Cards with your power.”

“It wasn’t just my power!” she insisted, close to tears. “Because Tomoyo-chan and Yue-san and Kero-chan helped me! And also… it was because you were there! You helped me so much! You were always there to tell me how to do things and to make sure I didn’t get hurt! Because you were there by my side protecting me, I didn’t need to be so scared. I knew if anything bad happened, you’d save me and keep me safe!”

“Sakura…” he whispered looking at her as the first tears started to fall. “It means… a lot to me that you thought that way. But… for a while now, I haven’t had that kind of ability. I could do nothing but stand by and watch… even in the end I could only get in the way.”

“It wasn’t like that…” Sakura insisted, coming up and putting her forehead on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long while before Sakura spoke again “Do you… have to go?”

“Yes… There are things I have to do in Hong Kong.”

“When… do you go back?”

“Sunday.”

“SUNDAY?!” Sakura cried in absolute horror. “That’s only the day after tomorrow! You’ll only be staying a day longer than Eriol-kun! So suddenly... I-I…”

“This… like everything else… I have no choice in the matter. The arrangements have already been made, all that’s left is for me to pack and say my goodbyes…”

“Iie! I won’t listen to them! I won’t let you say goodbye because if you say goodbye then it’ll all be over and I won’t let that happen!”

“Gomen ne…”

* * *

  1. _Ore… ore wa… omae ga…_ Most usually thought to be the opening lines of a love confession, but can be a number of other things as well (including Touya’s telling Yukito not to disappear and about him knowing Yuki wasn’t human).

  2. _Mu qin_ According to the online dictionary I found, it’s a highly respectful way to refer to one’s mother in Chinese, and that’s why Syaoran corrected himself and translated it for Sakura. I’m not sure how he addresses his mother in Japanese so I was torn between “Haha-ue” and “Okaa-sama” as his term for her, but haha-ue tends to have a more ancient sort of connotation to it and is rarely used in modern speech so I figured as a foreigner in modern day, he’d likely go with the more commonly used okaa-sama instead.




* * *

“So…” Yukito began while he helped wash the vegetables for dinner that night. He was nervous about bringing up this topic that had so much hanging on it, but he felt that he needed to know what Touya felt on the matter. Needed to know where he stood and if he even had a chance. “Mizuki-sensei came back.”

“Aa,” Touya responded in a distracted tone, was he even listening? Yukito couldn’t be sure one way or the other. 

“So she and Hiiragizawa-kun know each other…” he mused. Though it hadn’t been him that had seen either person the few days before, he had the oddest sense when he was told about it afterwards that that fact held some strange significance to it that made him fretful, though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.

Touya chose that moment to prove he wasn’t actually listening to his friend right then by starting in on a different subject completely. “What Clow Reed said, about the great disaster an all that, it was just a stupid false alarm…”

Something in Yukito’s chest tightened painfully. “Yes…” why did he have this reaction to the thought that this Clow Reed person had lied to them? To him? What was he to Clow Reed, and more importantly, what was Clow Reed to him? Forcing his thoughts to stop following such a path, he instead focused on the now and everything he had gained due to this ‘false alarm’. “But I am grateful that he made my true self,” he spoke the feelings from his heart. “I got to meet Sakura-chan and the others…” and then, shyly he looked to his friend in hopes that somehow the message would be conveyed and not rejected, “and you too, To-ya…”

This confession managed to stir Touya out of his moody contemplation and he turned and smiled at Yukito gently. Getting embarrassed about being looked at with such kind eyes, Yukito turned away and searched for something else to say instead before his mind started to prod too deeply at the possibilities that just couldn’t be reality. Strangely, it settled quite quickly and determinedly on the fact that Sakura was upstairs and he could swear that she was crying.

“Sakura-chan’s still in her room?” he worried his bottom lip at that oddly disturbing thought, “She’s been in there since she got home, did something happen?” he asked, automatically looking back to Touya, who always seemed to know everything going on in his sister’s life.

“…She’ll figure it out soon.”

“To-ya?”

“The one that she loves. She’ll be realizing it soon.”

“You know who?”

“For a long time. That’s why I’ve been trying to keep that gaki (1) away from her.”

* * *

  1. _gaki_ Touya's "term of endearment" for Syaoran and Eriol alike. Though Eriol he adds the fact that the boy's from England to differentiate between the two. Most of the time it is translated as "brat" but it is also able to mean "ghoul" and I've seen some sources use the word for a type of creature who was so bad in its last life that it's punished in this life by being eternally hungry and thirsty. This type of "gaki" are a race that eat humans--both flesh and soul--in an attempt to satisfy their hunger. I don't know if the "gaki" term Touya uses has the same kanji or not, but let's just say that the English term "brat" is a little soft for what Touya's calling them.  




* * *

Sakura lay on her bed with her covers over her head. She wasn’t crying, not any more at least, she had run out of tears a while ago. Kero had been hovering around her since she came home upset and she knew he was trying to work out what was wrong with her. She didn’t mind really, she knew it was because he loved her that he was going to these extents to try and make her feel better, but at the moment that knowledge did little to comfort her and only served to make her feel worse.

  
Not only did she have to feel rotten because her only two friends with magic were going away in the next two days, but now she was feeling terribly guilty for making her guardian worry over her like this. That’s why she had hid under the blanket, so that he didn’t have to see how upset she was, and maybe if she stayed still long enough he would think she had fallen asleep and go play video games or something.

  
Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case as she felt the little winged beast land on the pillow beside her. “Sakura…” he began, voice pitched with concern as if he were walking through a mine field. “What’s up? Stomach ache? A fever?” He lifted the blankets and put a paw to her forehead to feel her temperature.

“Iie… I’m fine…” she insisted, reaching out and patting Kero atop the head in thanks for his concern. He licked at her fingers affectionately as her mind raced back to earlier that day.

  
“ _She said it was time for me to go back home…”_

  
“Eriol-kun… and Syaoran-kun… they’re both leaving,” she finally admitted.

“Eh?” her guardian asked in surprise.

“Eriol-kun tomorrow and Syaoran-kun the day after… I won’t see them anymore.” And just like that, the tears started once again.

_Why does this thought cause me so much pain? Syaoran-kun’s returning to Hong Kong. Going far away. And Eriol-kun too. Far away. Will I ever see them again? It hurts so much inside…_

  
“ _When the same thing happens… When someone close to you goes far away, please think about how your feelings then are different from now. If you do, you’ll understand your true feelings.”_

_Eriol-kun said that back then… What was different? When I knew that Eriol-kun was going back to England, it was really too bad. “I’d like to see him again,” I thought, “I could write letters and that sort of thing.” But with Syaoran-kun…_

“ _She said it was time for me to go back home…”_

_That was horrible. Horrible! Syaoran-kun… I don’t understand this feeling. He’s my friend, they’re both my friends, and so why is it so much worse that it’s Syaoran-kun?_ Sakura’s eyes scanned the room, searching for a release to her tormented mind. There on the shelf, next to the bear she had made for Yukito, sat a black bear that stared unseeingly in her direction.  _Syaoran-kun’s bear…_ she didn’t even notice that she had started to blush.

“… _You can keep it.”_

_I ought to give that back, too. So that he gets the chance to tell that person he likes what he feels before he leaves. Funny… why does it not make me feel any better, even to know that I’m helping him out?_

“Kaijuu! Nuigurumi (1)! Dinner’s ready!” Touya’s voice called up to them from the bottom of the stairs.

“Hai, hai!” Sakura responded, whipping her eyes and not really feeling all that hungry. “And I’m not a kaijuu!"

* * *

  1. _Kaijuu! Nuigurumi!_ More of  Touya’s endearing terms. Kaijuu is what he usually calls his sister, generally translated as “monster” though it also can mean “marine animal” so I’m supposing it’s something along the lines of “the creature from the deep” along the terms of all the sea monsters made up throughout history around the world. Nuigurumi isn’t anywhere near as insulting, it just means “stuffed animal” or “plushie” in reference to the fact that Kero looks like one of her toys and in fact attempted to pass as one for over a year. Still, Kero takes offence when people call him that.



* * *

During dinner, Kero had shyly darted around behind Sakura’s chair, still not used to the idea of eating with the rest of the family after having to spend so many months in hiding. During the meal, Sakura had informed everyone of the imminent departure of her two friends, and Yukito had stepped on Touya’s foot under the table for being insensitive about the matter.

It had been agreed on that she could go early before school started to say her goodbyes to Eriol, and to bring the farewells of the others because they all had other business to take care of instead. Fujitaka had to be at work early enough to assist students before class and Yukito said he had classroom duty.

Touya had merely stated that he had no intention of spending more time around Nakuru than strictly necessary, that Kaho would already know everything he wanted to say to her so why even bother saying it in the first place, and that he didn’t even know the other two so why should he care to see them off. This got him a scolding from his sister and a teasing from Yukito, both of which he huffed about far more than he really meant.

After dinner, Touya had walked Yukito home, Fujitaka had got to work marking essays, and Sakura had retired to her bed once more to continue thinking. That had been several hours ago, and by now everyone was tucked away in bed and fast asleep save for one small yellow toy with wings. He floated above the book dutifully and looked hard and long at the black bear on his Mistress’s shelf.

“She gets awfully red when she looks at you lately…” he addressed the teddy, flying up to it and patting it on the head as if it were a kohai that he was giving guidance to. “Don’t you belong to that other kid who goes red all the time?” he questioned it, and then pulled his paw away and gave it a worried look. “Maybe it’s contagious…” then he gave a snort and fluffed up his wings as he glided back to his place above the Book of Sakura. “I’m much cooler,” he said confidently, determined not to feel his position as the Mistress’s favourite threatened by a teddy.

* * *

“…So you’re leaving today…” Sakura said. She, Tomoyo, and Kero had ended up being the sending-off party, and so they stood together before their friends. They were all standing out in Eriol's front lawn, it seemed so strange to see him and Mizuki-sensei in casual clothing when Tomoyo and herself were just stopping off on their way to school.

Eriol smiled sorrowfully at them and gave a regretful confirmation in reply.

“That's too bad,” Tomoyo admitted, looking sadly from the boy who sat behind her to her ex-teacher and back again.

“I wish we could see you to the airport,” Sakura moped. 

Kaho smiled affectionately at the younger girls, “Today is Saturday. You have class today, so there's no helping it.”

Sakura's initial reply was to nod, only looking up to meet Kaho's eyes a moment later. “Can I still write you letters?” she asked hopefully.

Kaho smiled and responded with a confident “Of course!” as her cheer.

Shyly, the Mistress of the newly themed Sakura Cards looked to their old Master. “May I write to you too, Eriol-kun?”

Initially blinking in surprise at her making a request to stay in contact with him, the look quickly faded into the same loving smile Fujitaka often bestowed upon her. “I'll look forward to them,” he told the daughter of his other half honestly.

“I'll write too,” Tomoyo announced.

“Thank you,” Eriol replied, his smile fading into one more appropriate for his apparent age.

“Oh!” came a sudden exclamation from Kaho, causing everyone to turn and look up at the woman. “I forgot something!” she admitted, turning to hurry back to the old mansion, only to pause a few steps away and think. “Umm... umm...where did I put them? My room? The entrance? Umm...” she mumbled to herself as she tried to remember.

Eriol gave a chuckle at her antics. “Those three packages?” he asked her, amusement heavy in his voice.

Clapping, she turned happily to him and smiled brightly. “That's right!”

“They're on the living room mantle,” he informed her kindly. 

“Oh...” she responded, blushing deeply at her forgetfulness. “I've been forgetting so many things right in front of my eyes!" she excused herself, “just a second while I get them!” she announced and hurried off back to the house at a run. 

“Mizuki-sensie's a little absent minded,” Sakura admitted embarrassedly as they watched Kaho run back to the large house.

“Kaho's a little clumsy,” Eriol agreed fondly. 

“Hoe?”

“She gets lost a lot,” he elaborated for them, “and she's horrible at remembering streets.”

Tomoyo gave one of her quiet “Oh my...” reactions, bringing a hand to her cheek.

“In England, she can never give directions,” he recalled with an amused smile.

“Hoeeee...”

Just then they heard the lady in question coming back. “Sorry to keep you!” she called out, running with her arms full of three nicely designed packages. However, in her hurry, the rightmost one fell from her arms. “Oops!” she cried as she hurried to pick it up again.

Sakura, being the helpful and energetic girl that she was, rushed forward to assist with the presents, while Eriol and Tomoyo stood back and watched. Glancing over at her ex-classmate, Tomoyo chose this moment to voice her latest observation. “You watch Mizuki-sensei with such kind eyes...”

Eriol started slightly in surprise at being caught doing something he obviously wasn't expecting to have noticed. “And when you watch her when you think no one's looking, you have the kindest eyes of all.”

The two black haired children eyed each other gaugingly for a moment, watching to see what reactions would arise in the other, before Eriol broke into a contented smile. “...You have a truly amazing power of observation, Daidouji-san.”

Tomoyo's only response was to dip her head in silent thanks for the compliment.

“Here!” Kaho announced happily as her and Sakura came up again, unaware that they had been the topic of discussion only moments before. “Presents from England!”

“Thank you,” both the girls said politely upon receiving their gifts. 

“And one more for Li-kun,” Kaho announced, handing it over to Sakura along with her own. Sakura's face momentarily twisted into one of regret and pain.

“I spoke with Li-kun yesterday,” Eriol said by way of explanation. “He said he had errands to run this morning and couldn't come.”

“O...Okay...” Sakura said, accepting the present. 

“Well, it's about time that you girls were heading to school. You don't want to be late...” the bispecled boy said in way of lead up to their farewells.

“Eriol-kun...” Sakura began, attempting to find the words to express everything she felt at this moment of parting. “Thank you... really.”

He seemed to pause as he looked at her, searching her face as if looking for something hidden there. “...Did it feel any different?”

“Hoe?” Sakura blinked, not understanding what he was talking about.

“When he told you. How is it different from how you feel now?” the sorcerer asked again, prodding at her memory to make her focus on what he wanted her to.

A flash of surprise crossed her features, before she lowered her eyes and looked away in regret. After waiting a moment, Eriol nodded as if she had just finished giving him a half hour speech on the nuances of her heart. “I see,” he said cryptically and then held out his hand to her. “I look forward to the day we can meet again.” And with that they shook as equals.

As the two girls left amid Nakuru's calls of insistence that they all needed to see each other again soon, Tomoyo looked over at her best friend. “They really are nice people.”

“Yep!” Sakura cheered, returning Nakuru's wave goodbye.

Once the two girls were out of sight, Nakuru turned poutily to Eriol with her hands in fists on her hips. “Aw man... When we get back to England, I won't be able to play with Touya-kun and the others,” as if her whining about the fact would somehow change her master's mind.

“And if you didn't?” Spinel asked incredulously. 

“I'd play with Touya-kun and Tsukishiro-kun all day!” she announced as if that was the best possible thing in the world. “They'll be lonely without me around,” Nakuru announced definitively as she wandered back to the house.

“Don't you mean relieved?” Spinel teased his sister while floating after her. 

“What was that?!” Nakuru snapped.

As Eriol watched his two creations bicker about Nakuru's importance to Touya and the amount of free time she'd actually have with the workload ahead of her to play catch up for the year's missed schooling, Kaho watched Eriol's expression of parental pride. “Can I ask something?” she suddenly ventured. When he turned and looked at her expectantly, she continued. “Why did you create them?”

“I knew that Yue and Cerberus would attack in defence of Sakura-san at Tokyo Tower. So they needed opponents... But... That's not all. If I didn't have Ruby and Spinel... if I didn't, Cerberus and Yue would have looked for Clow Reed inside of me forever. Especially Yue.” A shadow ghosted over his eyes, longing for familiar presences from a lifetime that was not his own. He blinked it away quickly and focused on the present. “Of course, that's not all. I am fond of the pair.”

Kaho smiled knowingly at Eriol's cryptic admittance. “And for you, that means 'love',” she smiled at the faint powdering of a blush that crept to his cheeks. “You really are kind, Eriol.”

He turned and smiled up at the brunet woman standing next to him. “Only you would say that, Kaho. Since it seems no one else understands my reasons for changing.” He turned and looked out at the city at large. “I've come to care about everyone since becoming like this. But more than anyone else,” he turned back to her looking her dead in the eye, “a shy person.”

Kaho blinked in surprise, before letting out a sigh of defeat. “...You knew? That I loved you?”

“...Yes. I never said anything because I could not ask you to wait indefinitely for one who was locked within the body of a child. However, thanks to Sakura-san, my time has been returned to me and before long, I shall once again be a man,” he explained, taking her hand gently within his own. “But... from now on, I don't know what will happen.”

“I don't know either,” Kaho admitted, dropping to her knees so they were eye to eye. “But... if your feelings are the same as mine, I'm sure we'll have a happy ending.”

Eriol leaned forward until their foreheads touched, happy in this moment to finally be able to be close to the woman he loved like this. “It would be good if Sakura-san has a happy ending too,” he admitted.

Kaho smiled at how much Eriol adored the children of his other half. “It'll be okay,” she reassured him. “It's Sakura-san, after all.”

Eriol smiled at this. “Yes, all her dreams shall come true.”

* * *

Elsewhere, on the road towards Tomoeda Elementary School, one young sorceress did not feel so sure about the future as Eriol did, however. Tomoyo watched her friend as they walked, her downhearted spirit causing concern to the young seamstress. Tomoyo smiled affectionately at Sakura and aimed to give her something else to think on. “So you've got to go see Li-kun later.”

Sakura's face twisted into one of sorrow at this, taking Tomoyo momentarily off guard. “T...Tomoyo-chan... Um... Ummm...” she fidgeted nervously, rapidly blinking back the tears. “Syaoran-kun... he... he...” she swallowed hard and forced herself to finish with the bad news. “He's going away, too...”

Tomoyo gasped at this, “He is? When?” she asked, concerned about the loss of a friend.

“Tomorrow. He only told me on the way home from school yesterday. Eriol-kun keeps telling me to think of that and how it's different from when I found out Eriol-kun was leaving, but I can't stop thinking about it.” Sakura rambled off, her cheeks flushing under the overload of emotion, and struggled to find a reason for this not to be the end of the world.

Tomoyo, for her part, was quiet for a moment as she let the reality of the words sink in and understanding dawn on what Eriol was trying to achieve. Not understanding what good it would do now, but knowing enough from her limited knowledge of the forces of magic to know that Eriol must have a reason for pushing such a realization on her friend, Tomoyo chose to put her faith in the future he had set his bets on and assist in making Sakura realize the truth. “And? How is it different?” she prompted.

“It hurts.” was the immediate reply, “It hurts so much more, and I don't know why...”

Tomoyo smiled sadly at the words spoken by her first crush. “Sakura-chan... you care a lot for Li-kun, don't you?” the green eyed girl blushed at this question and looked away. “Don't you know how you feel?”

Sakura paused and looked sorrowfully at her feet. “I don't know. When I think about him I feel all funny inside. And when I try to figure out how I feel, my chest hurts even more...” Sakura blushed brightly at the admittance, and her eyes took on a shading of shame. “I don't understand at all... about myself...”

“Only you don't understand your heart.” the black haired girl thought aloud while watching her dearest friend. “The thing people know least is themselves. Especially their hearts.” She tried to comfort. “It's okay, the answer is inside you. You have the chance to realize it.” She placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. “And I think, iie, I know he'll be happy with the answer you'll find.”

“...The answer...?”

* * *

School had come and gone with no sign of Syaoran, and so Sakura had returned home with both presents still in her possession. She had decided to head home first to drop off her school things and get changed out of her uniform rather than going strait to his house. It was as she pulled the two presents from her bag that Kero floated up and sat on her table.

“That's the present from the Tsukimine shrine Nee-san?” he asked.

“Yeah!” Sakura said excitedly, pulling open the top and dumping the contents out onto the table beside Kero. “Wow! It's a teddy bear broach! How cute!!” she squealed as she hurried over to her mirror to see how it looked on her.

“Why isn't it something to eat...?” Kero whined, making Sakura roll her eyes at his one-tracked mind. “Too bad.”

She turned to tease him when her eyes landed on another yellow plushy sitting on her dresser.  _The bear I was going to give to Yukito-san..._ She walked over and pulled the bear into a loving embrace.  _It's just been sitting around here..._ And yet, when she opened her eyes, the fist thing she saw was a stuffed toy, only this one was black and belonged to one who had been haunting her recent thoughts.

“ _And one for Li-kun.”_ Kaho's voice from this morning echoed in her ears. _Syaoran-kun..._ she thought as she looked to his present sitting on her table and then back to the bear.

“What's up, Sakura?” Kero questioned, “Your face went all red. Got a fever?”

Suddenly realizing that she was blushing deeply, the sorceress shook her head adamantly. “I-I lost my notebook! I need to go buy a new one!” she suddenly announced, swapping bears and grabbing Syaoran's present off her table. She shoved both quickly into her backpack before running out the door leaving a very confused Kero in her wake.

Pulling himself into a sitting position from where he had dived to avoid getting trampled in his mistress's mad dash out of the room, he turned to her stuffed animals and asked “Why does she need a present and a bear to buy a notebook?”

* * *

Sakura, completely unaware of the state of confusion she left her poor guardian in, walked down the street towards her friend's house. “Hoe! Why does my face get red so fast?” She asked the empty suburb.

“ _The one I l-like is... S...someone else.”_

“Syaoran-kun...” Sakura mourned, “He deserves a chance... to tell his feelings to that person.”

“ _...You can keep it.”_

However, the battle against her flushing cheeks was one that Sakura was destined to fail.  _Why does my heart beat so fast... when I think of him?_

“ _Syaoran-kun, you're really nice and wonderful. So I'm sure the person you like likes you too! Go for it!”_

_Why does the idea of giving this bear back to him... of him confessing to that person he likes... make my chest hurt so much? Somehow I..._

Just then the sound of someone calling her name broke Sakura from her thoughts. Looking around she spotted Chiharu waving at her sitting on her knees on a picnic blanket with Yamazaki in the park that she was passing.

“Chiharu-chan! Yamazaki-kun!” Sakura called back in greeting, earning a wave from the boy as well. 

Deciding that she could afford to put off the inevitable for a few minutes longer, Sakura hurried down the steps and walked across the grass over to the young couple who had called her attention. When she finally reached them, Chiharu began at once at the matter at hand. “What's wrong? You're walking like the world was on your shoulders.”

“Hoe?!” Sakura cried, bringing her hands to her face in embarrassment. “I was!? Was I making a weird face?”

“Not a weird face,” Yamazaki clarified, “it had more of a melancholy feeling.”

“Eh?” Sakura asked, looking to him in surprise. 

His reaction was to simply smile kindly at her and ask, “I'm going to go buy some juice, what would you like?”

“Eh? But--” Sakura began trying to find a way to refuse. 

“Let him treat you!” Chiharu insisted, pulling at Sakura to come and sit. “Peach for me.” she told her boyfriend.

Politely removing her shoes, Sakura came to sit next to her friend before saying, “Well then, I'll have lemon.”

“You know, the thing about juice--!” Yamazaki began, but was broken off by Chiharu.

“Right, right.” she said, giving him a shove to get him on his way. “You can lie about that later.” The two girls watched as he walked away laughingly before Chiharu turned once more to the sorceress. “Is something bothering you?” However, Sakura only averted her eyes and so Chiharu reassured her. “It's okay, Yamazaki-kun won't be back for a while.”

Sakura blinked at her owlishly “Eh?”

“You're not happy, so he's letting us talk.” Chiharu explained, “It's easier to talk without him here, right?”

“What!? When did he say that?” Sakura asked in surprise.

“He didn't, I just knew.” the pigtailed girl informed.

“He did it with a look?” Sakura asked, impressed by their closeness. “Hoeeee...”

“We've been dating a long time.” Chiharu said in way of explanation for their closeness. “Now, do you want to tell me?”

Again the melancholy look came to the sorceress's face. “U-ummm... I've been keeping something precious that belongs to a friend of mine, but I think I may have kept it too long. If it was Yamazaki-kun, what would you do?”

“Eh? What kind of thing? Like a pencil, or a favourite book, or their umbrella?” Chiharu asked, trying to clarify the situation in her own mind.

“Hoeee! N-no. Not like that...”

“...I apologize.” Chiharu announced with confidence. “We've been dating for a long time, so I do what I like. So there are times when I take things too far. But I really love him, I want to be together forever, so I apologize.” she got a far away dreamy look to her face as she continued to talk about the one she loved. “When I do stuff, sometimes I don't understand things, but I never mean harm. Afterwards, when I realize that I've hurt him badly, I apologise and say 'I'm sorry'. And since it's Yamazaki-kun, he'll just say, 'Okay, it's fine.' And if he ever apologizes to me, I want to say 'It's fine' to him, too.”

“That's really great.” Sakura stated with a dreamy look in her eye.

Chiharu took her friend's hand in her own and looked at her sincerely. “If you apologize, I'm sure they'll say 'it's fine'.”

Finally smiling with her usual brightness, Sakura nodded confidently to her friend. “Yeah. Thanks.”

The moment was shattered by Yamazaki's unexpected return. “Now, the thing about juice is-!” he cheered excitedly as he popped up once more.

“HOEEE!!!” Sakura cried in surprise, practically jumping into Chiharu's lap in her shock.

“So, why do you have to return with that kind of timing?” the pigtailed girl sweatdropped, before reaching over and began mock-strangling her boyfriend. “Don't surprise Sakura-chan like that!” she scolded amid his laughter.

Looking at the two young lovers, the sorceress finally made up her mind.  _I have to apologize to Syaoran-kun. Say I'm sorry for keeping the bear so long._ “Thank you for the juice, Yamazaki-kun, but I really do need to be going.”

“Alright, sorry to have kept you, Sakura-chan.” Chiharu said.

“See you at school on Monday, Kinomoto-chan!” Yamazaki told her.

“Yeah, see you then,” she said to them while she slipped her shoes back on and left, a new determination and purpose in her step. _This is the right thing to do, I know it is, but then why does it hurt? I still don't understand how I feel very well._

_I love him... really love him. And it's not loving in a friend sort of way, but then what kind of love is it...?_ The girl gave a sigh and hung her head in defeat.  _Tomoyo-chan said the answer was inside of me, but..._ “I have to deliver the bear and Mizuki-sensei's present.”  _He wasn't at school today..._

Finally reaching Syaoran's apartment complex, the sorceress took note of a moving truck and several workers outside busily moving out furniture and boxes. “I wonder if someone else is moving as well?” she asked herself.

Syaoran seemed to materialize himself out of the chaos of workers right before Sakura reached the gate. They looked at each other a moment unsurely before Sakura slipped her backpack off and dug out the package she had come to deliver. “Uh, um, um! Mizuki-sensei got this present for you in England!” she presented, but couldn't seem to avoid blushing for whatever reason.

The Chinese boy had a moment of surprise before his face melted into a gentle smile. “Thank you,” he told her, taking the present

For a moment, Sakura tried to speak, to say something about these confusing feelings and how she didn't want him going away. But none of the words that came to her mind seemed quite right, and so rather than babble like an idiot, she blushed and looked away. In her bag, she saw one more thing that ought to be given to him, and she was reminded of her resolve to beg his forgiveness.

“And... the bear. The one I've been keeping for you, I brought it to return it. You should have your chance... to confess to that person you like...” she told him, holding it out to him though something inside her was wishing she wasn't.

“Sakura...” he breathed out in shock, but then looked away as if pained. “...Keep it. Even if I could confess to that person, I'm leaving. It's not like I could be with them. It's better I don't burden them with my feelings.”

“Don't say that!” the sorceress cried. “To never tell the person you like how you feel...! It's so sad! So sad!” It hurt. Her chest hurt so much, more than it had so far. That this bear that held Syaoran's precious feelings of love for that person were just pushed aside like this—called a burden of all things—was painful to her. She held the bear close to herself, cherishing these feelings of love that he would abandon, and made firm her resolution. “If you don't have time then I'll go for you! I'll explain the situation, and I'm sure they'll understand! But don't just NOT tell them!”

She felt a gentle touch embrace her shoulder and looked up through her tears to a smiling face trying desperately to mask those pained honey eyes. “...Thank you, but... it's okay. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to get a chance to tell that person how I feel.” he tried his best to reassure. “So... just keep it. It's yours now, to do with whatever you like.”

_To take his feelings... for them to be given to me to do with what I please..._ Sakura rested her cheek atop the teddy bear's head. “...Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure.”

With that being the end of that, a silence weighed down heavily on the two magic users. In an attempt to overcome the oddly stagnant atmosphere, the young sorceress cast her eyes about, them finally landing on the van and workers moving furniture not too far away. “Uh... um! I-I wonder who is moving! It's full of luggage!”

“...It's me.” was Syaoran's monotone reply.

“...What?” Sakura cried, whipping around to look at Syaoran once again, “But-but you said tomorrow...!”

With a solemn face, the young heir explained himself, “Yes, it is tomorrow, but my things are being sent ahead.”

To which a miserable “...Oh...” was his only reply.

She felt his hand take hold of her shoulder once more and so looked up to meet his honey eyes. “I'm glad that I came to Japan and met you... No, met you, Sakura. (1)”

They stared at each other a moment longer, each caught up in this strange spell of sorrow and longing, each with words on the tip of their tongue that they couldn't find the syllables to express aloud, when the scene was interrupted by one of the workers calling for Syaoran's attention. “'Scuse me! Before we take this away, I need some confirmations!”

Turning from the green-eyed girl sharply and dropping his hand from her shoulder as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have, he muttered out a quick “Oh, right.” and hurried to the man to sign the paperwork.

Watching him a moment, holding his bear to her chest still, the reality of his leaving sunk in at last. This wasn't some cruel joke or action that could be avoided by her asking nicely. Her friend was leaving, the only one that she had shared having magic with all this time was going away and there was nothing that she could do about it. Unable to face this reality any longer, she hung her head and slipped away unnoticed.

Once the paperwork was dealt with Syaoran looked to finish his talk with her, only to find her nowhere in sight. “Sakura...”

* * *

  1. This line is very awkward in English, it seems like it shouldn't be written as such, but it's accurate to the script of the manga. It has to do with the way Syaoran speaks in the Japanese version. In the original source material he hardly ever gave any indication as to who he was addressing when he spoke, instead just talking with the attitude that the one he wished to address would be paying attention to what he had to say. This actually says a lot about his character: he is someone of a high enough social position that his words are to be listened to and obeyed by everyone around him regardless of whether he acknowledges their existence as significant or not. However, this is also very rude in the Japanese culture and would be very awkward if Sakura was not so very attentive of her friends. So anyway, in that one line he corrected himself and addressed her specifically, acknowledging her as someone important enough that she needn't obey his every word just because he said it as well as simply being more polite to the girl he likes.



* * *

Well, there's chapter one of the prelude. Anyone who has read the manga will notice that there's VERY little difference between the script of the manga and that which I have written, which is why prior to this I had simply thought I needn't bother writing this; however, it seems that those changes that did come about would be rather substantial to just brush it aside and say a vague “I took the ending of the manga and the ending of the anime and squished them together.” Next chapter we get to play “spot the cameo” as well as finish off the manga ending. Anyway, enough pointless ramblings from me, I hope to see you all again shortly in the next chapter of either this or the main story. Shade and Sweet Water, everyone!

Sakura lay on her bed with her covers over her head. She wasn’t crying, not any more at least, she had run out of tears a while ago. Kero had been hovering around her since she came home upset and she knew he was trying to work out what was wrong with her. She didn’t mind really, she knew it was because he loved her that he was going to these extents to try and make her feel better, but at the moment that knowledge did little to comfort her and only served to make her feel worse.

  


Not only did she have to feel rotten because her only two friends with magic were going away in the next two days, but now she was feeling terribly guilty for making her guardian worry over her like this. That’s why she had hid under the blanket, so that he didn’t have to see how upset she was, and maybe if she stayed still long enough he would think she had fallen asleep and go play video games or something. 

  


Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case as she felt the little winged beast land on the pillow beside her. “Sakura…” he began, voice pitched with concern as if he were walking through a mine field. “What’s up? Stomach ache? A fever?” He lifted the blankets and put a paw to her forehead to feel her temperature.

  


“Iie… I’m fine…” she insisted, reaching out and patting Kero atop the head in thanks for his concern. He licked at her fingers affectionately as her mind raced back to earlier that day. 

  


“ _She said it was time for me to go back home…”_

  


“ Eriol-kun… and Syaoran-kun… they’re both leaving,” she finally admitted.

  


“Eh?” her guardian asked in surprise.

  


“Eriol-kun tomorrow and Syaoran-kun the day after… I won’t see them anymore.” And just like that, the tears started once again. 

  


_Why does this thought cause me so much pain? Syaoran-kun’s returning to Hong Kong. Going far away. And Eriol-kun too. Far away. Will I ever see them again? It hurts so much inside…_

  


“ _When the same thing happens… When someone close to you goes far away, please think about how your feelings then are different from now. If you do, you’ll understand your true feelings.”_

  


_Eriol-kun said that back then… What was different? When I knew that Eriol-kun was going back to England, it was really too bad. “I’d like to see him again,” I thought, “I could write letters and that sort of thing.” But with Syaoran-kun…_

  


“ _She said it was time for me to go back home…”_

  


_That was horrible. Horrible! Syaoran-kun… I don’t understand this feeling. He’s my friend, they’re both my friends, and so why is it so much worse that it’s Syaoran-kun?_ Sakura’s eyes scanned the room, searching for a release to her tormented mind. There on the shelf, next to the bear she had made for Yukito, sat a black bear that stared unseeingly in her direction. _Syaoran-kun’s bear…_ she didn’t even notice that she had started to blush.

  


“… _You can keep it.”_

  


_I ought to give that back, too. So that he gets the chance to tell that person he likes what he feels before he leaves. Funny… why does it not make me feel any better, even to know that I’m helping him out?_

  


“ Kaijuu! Nuigurumi (1)! Dinner’s ready!” Touya’s voice called up to them from the bottom of the stairs. 

  


“Hai, hai!” Sakura responded, whipping her eyes and not really feeling all that hungry. “And I’m not a kaijuu!"

  



	2. Chapter Two: Sakura's Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the rewritten manga ending. Also, cameo guest appearances in this chapter of Ichihara Yuuko, Morodashi, Marudashi, Ame Warashi, Zashiki Warashi, Fei Wong Reed, Kyle Lawndart, Emeraude, Mokona, Hinoto, Kanoe, Sumeragi Subaru, and Sumeragi Hokuto. All of them are property of the CLAMP multiverse.

Birth of the Deck Master

Prequel to Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Chapter Two: Sakura's Feelings

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is owned by the four lovely ladies of CLAMP and was originally published by Kodansha comics.

* * *

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the peaceful little town of Tomoeda, the sun was shining with hardly a cloud in the sky, the sort of day that makes it feel like your heart could just burst from all the beauty and wonder. But still, the magic seemed to be lost on one little girl that walked down the cheery streets.

She walked along with her head hung low and her hands clasped over her aching heart. She did not see the sidewalk as it passed beneath her feet; she only knew the thoughts whirling round and round inside her mind. _Syaoran-kun..._ _How do I feel about him?_ She pondered, trying to place it. _I like him._ Of course she did, that wasn't an issue in the least! As a friend? Yes, with out a doubt. They had been friends for a year now, had been so close and experienced so much that she just couldn't ever imagine even beginning to explain to someone else. Syaoran was one of her best and dearest friends. _But is that all...?_

Somehow she knew that it wasn't. She shared something with him, something unique that no one else would ever compare to. He had been her rival in both their love for Yukito and in their magic, a magic which later became the tie that bound them so closely together. He was like her; the first one she ever met who shared this wondrous magic that had completely rearranged her life. The bond between them was so much more than mere friendship but...

_But..._

_This feeling..._ this affection that she felt, the ache in her chest; it was so different from what she felt for Tomoyo, for Eriol, for Yukito. _What is it?_ She wanted to know, as if somehow knowing what this pain was would make it go away, or at least easier to deal with. Why did it hurt so much that he was leaving? Why did she just want to curl up in a ball and cry? Why did she feel like this? “...Syaoran-kun...”

“Sakura-chan?” a familiar voice called.

Turning in a daze, the green-eyed girl saw her friend wearing in a lovely dress. She was standing by one of the entrances to the park, probably waiting for someone. “Rika-chan...” Sakura acknowledged.

“What's wrong? Are you hurt?” Rika asked as she approached, concerned greatly about the well being of her friend.

“N-no! No, nothing like that!” Sakura attempted to reassure quickly.

“But... you're crying,” the auburn haired girl pointed out.

“Hoe...?” Sakura whispered, a hand reaching to her cheek to find that there were indeed tears trailing down her face. Rika dug into her handbag and pulled out a little white handkerchief with pink flowers embroidered into one corner, handing it to Sakura. She murmured her thanks before she began to sob, unable to hold back the tears any longer.

The mature young girl gathered her friend into her arms in a maternal hug and rubbed her back as they leaned against the railing that surrounded the park. Sakura didn't know for how long she wept, but eventually she managed to get the tears under control once more. Sniffling softly and wiping her face with her sleeve, she handed the handkerchief back to Rika. “I'm sorry I cried.”

“No, not at all,” Rika insisted in a caring tone.

“I'm okay now,” the sorceress reassured.

The worried look didn't clear from Rika's face. “But you're still upset,” she pointed out. It startled Sakura that it was so obvious. “Would it be better if I wasn't here?”

Quickly Sakura shook her head, “That's not it! I was glad to see you. I just... you look like you were on your way somewhere, with those clothes and bag...”

“Yes,” Rika acknowledged, “But I have time.”

“Could you... be meeting the person you're going out with?” Sakura asked shyly, earning a bright blush from her friend. _Rika-chan is always so mature and calm. But she'll still turn bright red when thinking of that person. She must really love him._ “A-ano, Rika-chan?”

“Y-yes?”

“You're going out with someone older, right? So then, you don't get to see him much?” the young sorceress chewed her lower lip as she carefully tried to find the right words to ask the question she wanted.

“Eh?” Rika blinked, surprised by the sudden direction the conversation had turned.

“Are you sad when you don't see him? Aren't there times when you want to cry?” the desperate girl pressed on, seeking wisdom and confirmation to things she hadn't fully grasped within herself.

And suddenly a light dawned within grey eyes. “Is that why you were crying? Because you can't see someone you like?”

“From now on... I won't see him...” Sakura admitted.

“Is that so...” Rika pondered on what she could say to console her friend. “And this person, you love him?”

The sorceress went a million shades of red at this. “Hoee?!” Did she love him? They were just friends! Granted they were very close, but it wasn't like they were in a relationship or anything! So she couldn't love him, the idea was preposterous! _Wasn't it?_

“I see... Let me put it this way then: it's not that I don't get to see him, but rather that we don't get to talk very often.” Rika explained sadly.

“Why?” Sakura asked.

“It's his job...” her friend admitted, staring at her shoes.

“The person you're seeing has a job?” Sakura asked, surprised by this revelation. She had always assumed that he was just in an older grade or maybe in junior high or high school at the most. Though she supposed that her brother did work, so it was likely a very similar thing.

“That's right. And there are other things as well.” Rika confirmed.

“Other things?” Sakura questioned, but her friend only smiled sadly in response and made no effort to elaborate, so she politely returned to the previous matter. “Aren't you lonely?”

“There are times,” Rika confessed, “but I really love him. Even if I don't see him or talk to him, I could never stop liking him.” Rika then turned to Sakura and pressed once more. “Sakura-chan, will you stop liking that person just because you don't see him anymore?”

Thinking only for the barest of moments, she knew this was not the case. She would not stop caring for Syaoran, even if she never saw him again. He was dear to her, and always would be. And so, with that simple understanding, she shook her head in the negative.

“Then, it's okay,” Rika reassured with a gentle smile.

_That's right,_ Sakura thought, _everything will surely be alright._ Turning a grateful smile on to her friend, she thanked her. Suddenly, realizing how long they had talked for, Sakura began to panic. “Ah! Rika-chan, I've kept you waiting! I'm sorry about that. Are you okay on time?”

“Yes, I'm fine,” Rika assured, not even bothering to glance at her watch.

“Alright, I won't keep you any longer. Thanks very much! See you at school.” Sakura called over her shoulder as she took off for home at a run, mind abuzz with this new concept. _Do I love Syaoran-kun?_

Rika, for her part, walked only a few feet away to where Terada was stepping out from behind a tree where he had been hiding. “Sorry I kept you waiting,” she said politely.

“Not at all.” He responded, smiling down at the girl. He then turned his worried gaze towards Sakura's retreating back in the distance. “I wonder if Kinomoto is all right? I've never seen her cry.”

Rika smiled affectionately in the direction of her friend. “It's all right. It's Sakura-chan, after all.”

* * *

Sakura cleared the gate to her house and up the stairs to the front door without breaking out of her run. Her mind was spiralling around what Rika had said, what Chiharu had said, what Tomoyo, Eriol, Yukito, and Syaoran had all said about the feelings they felt in their hearts for the ones they loved. She had loved Yukito. It was like her feelings for her father, but it was different, too. Eriol had said that Yukito was originally made to be Sakura's number one important person so that she would love Yue the most forever and he would love her. Yet things had turned out differently, Yukito and her each had someone different who was supposed to be their number one person.

And now... now she only saw Yukito as another brother. It was different from what she had felt for him before, and still different from her love for her father or real brother, but her love had come to change as she came to accept who he really loved most. Tomoyo had spoken about that, too: of loving someone who loves someone else and that their happiness was more important than your own. How even though it hurt, to step aside so they could find their happiness was the thing that would make you the happiest as well in the long run. And while Sakura couldn't quite accept it at the time, she had found that Tomoyo had been right about it in the long run. She was happy with Yukito and Touya's relationship and only wished them all the best in the future.

So why did it hurt so much when Syaoran tried to do the same? She had told him that she'd even confess for him, and explain it all to that person so they'd understand his not coming himself and not reject his feelings. He chose instead to give up on them just because they'd be far away. But Rika had been right, she knew she had. Just because you went far away and wouldn't see each other again for a very long time, just because there would only be phone calls or letters to talk to each other, you wouldn't stop loving that person and missing them. _I won’t stop missing  him. _

Sakura paused, her foot hovering over the next step, and wondered at that thought. Why had she just thought that? Sighing, she continued up the stairs to her room. She had done as Chiharu suggested—as Chiharu always did with her own boyfriend—and apologized and tried to give the bear back, and Syaoran had looked for a moment like he was upset that she was giving it back to him. He told her that it was hers now, this bear made with all his love for another, and that she could throw it away or keep it however she pleased. And that had hurt, more than giving the bear back, more than offering to give his love to someone else; that he would give to her these second-hand feelings and then not even care if she cherished them or not.

She leaned on her door to shut it, only half hearing Kero asking why she was upset, (“Didn't they have the notebook you wanted?” the sun guardian questioned, floating up by her head.) and slipped her bag from off her shoulders, pulling out the bear and looking at it properly. And as she stared, she had a revelation. _That's it, isn't it? I don't want his second-hand feelings! I want Syaoran-kun to think of me most—to love me most!_ “Kero-chan... I-I love him.” the sorceress confessed to her dear little friend as she clutched the black bear to her chest. And a tear fell from the Card Mistress's eye, a tear that held all her feelings of love, longing, joy, and affection. Everything that was in her heart.

And as this tear fell, Sakura's magic circle formed about her feet, transforming the tear into a card all her own.

* * *

Within the local university, Fujitaka sat at his desk surrounded by reports that he was busy grading when he felt it. What it was, exactly, he couldn't say but he knew instinctively that it had something to do with his children. Dropping his marking pen, Fujitaka wheeled across the room to where his office phone was and lifted the receiver from the cradle and began dialling home.

* * *

At the far end of Reedington Avenue stands one of the oldest homes in London. It is a majestic house, centuries old, once belonging to a family of lesser nobles. Now it is the home of an orphan boy, his elder sister, his cat, and his governess. In the high-backed red chair across from the flickering flames that danced across his spectacles, the orphan boy smiled at the mysteries of the universe that only he was privy to.

“So... it has begun at last...” was all he had to say on the matter.

* * *

Somewhere within the bustling city of Tokyo, there stood a shop that any normal person would walk pass without even a glance. That is because this shop is a magical shop that only appears before those who require its services. Within this shop, the two children in the yard, running in circles in their own amusement, came to a halt and stared blankly into the distance.

Inside the building proper, a loud crash could be heard followed by a string of swearing. Suddenly the rice paper door was shoved aside and a beautiful woman with long black hair and crimson eyes stepped out to the railing. Once there, she took a long swig of the sake bottle she was holding—she would need a lot of alcohol to get over the headache that this was causing—and leaned out to call to the world at large: “God damn you, you four-eyed creepy bastard! It wasn't supposed to be like this! This is still too soon!” knowing full well that where ever said 'creepy bastard' was, he would be aware that she was cursing his very existence, like so many others the world over did each day.

* * *

Drained and tired, the old man sat back in his chair and readjusted his monocle. Everything he tried was unsuccessful, no matter how hard he worked at it he could only fail time and again. Was his wish truly beyond even the reach of a direct descendant of Clow Reed? He looked at the failures sitting around him in the dark and frowned.

This sensation coming to him from so far away... he had never felt it's likeness in power, despite having even been familiar with his grandfather, Clow Reed, himself. “Kyle,” he called into the dark, “I have need of you.”

The figure of a young man stepped forward, and while the master knew his looks by heart, it was too dim to see appearances within this room. “What is your will for me, my master?”

“This power... I must know its source. It may hold the key to my wish coming true...”

* * *

Poised and powerful was what everyone within the Clan had long come to expect of its prideful matriarch. However as she sat in the meeting with her council on the matter of her son's failure as Clow Reed's successor, the furrow etched on her sweaty brow was neither poised nor powerful. “That... what was that?” she questioned the room at large.

“‘That’, my lady?” one of the Elders questioned, not understanding.

Yelan blinked at the confusion that met her in the stares of her council. “You did not feel that... that explosion of power just now?”

“No, my lady...” was the general murmured response within the room. Troubled black eyes scanned once more in the direction of the disturbance, in the direction of Japan, and in a secret part of her heart she was thankful that her son would soon be coming home to safety away from that frighteningly strong power. 

* * *

Within an ivory tower that overlooked the magical lands of Cephiro, a young lady sat stunned. Her golden waves lay around her as if a cocoon, yet it gave her no comfort. Her emerald eyes did not see the world around her, but instead focused far off into the distance. “What ever could that be, which is more powerful than even myself?” she questioned aloud.

The only response she got was a troubled sounding “Puuu...” from the white rabbit-like creature who sat at her side in the empty room. 

* * *

Deep underground, a black haired woman paused in the act of brushing her elder sister's long silver hair. Both remained perfectly unmoving as they fell into a fretful silence. They had not foreseen this in their dreams... 

* * *

A pair of twins, a boy and a girl, had been playing under the sakura tree only minutes before, but now the boy stood holding his head after the shockwave. He did not hear his sister's worried cries as she tried to shake him from his stunned state, nor did he notice when she turned from him and ran back to the house for their grandmother.

* * *

The child sat on the porch of the house, swinging her legs lightly as she listened to the family within the house talk on without the slightest idea that she existed or of the ripples of fate that were emitting throughout the world at this moment. A young lady with corkscrew pigtails and an umbrella over her shoulder despite the sunny weather came around the entry way of the house.

The dark haired child looked up and smiled at the other. “Things are beginning to change,” she announced conversationally.

“That four-eyed freak never could figure out his place... always thought he was above everyone else's rules,” the umbrella girl complained, tapping her umbrella to her shoulder a few times.

“You never did like him...” the one on the stairs pointed out. The other just gave a huff of annoyance. “But at least she seems better...” again, only a huff for a response, but all the same the first girl smiled. 

* * *

In an old abandoned house, under an old abandoned rug lay the forgotten child. She had gone out to find her friends who had all run away from her. It was her duty to look after them when Master was away, after all. But for some reason she had fallen asleep. Yet this magical disturbance had managed to wake her up again and so she had to finish her duty.

She could feel them, what was left of them, stolen away from Master by a stranger. It was her duty to rescue them, return them to the dormancy they ought to be sleeping in until Master calls on them once again. However, to do this, she must first make them hear her voice over that of this thief...

* * *

Touya lifted the phone from the receiver and really felt he shouldn't be surprised to hear his father's voice on the other end of the line. Fujitaka had always been astute in recognizing when his children needed him, even when they tried to lie or hide it. And with the magic his father now possessed, it was obviously increased greatly. He knew from his own experiences with his now-missing magic how simple knowledge and awareness of things he couldn't put names to had often ran his day-to-day life.

“Yeah, we're fine. Well, Yue's climbing the walls—something about Sakura, though he insists that she's in no danger and I trust him on that—but other than him, nothing's wrong here.”

//Alright, but just be careful. I sensed something a moment ago and I get the feeling that it has to do with you kids...// Fujitaka informed.

“Alright, we'll go up then, and make sure everything's okay with the Kaijuu and her Nuigurumi,” with that assurance the conversation came to an end. 

* * *

Sakura swayed on spot as her vision tunnelled, but she wasted no time on worrying about that. She couldn't sleep right now, there was too much to do. She snatched up the strange card that had just appeared before her and shoved it into her book. Holding herself up on the edge of her desk for a minute until her world stopped spinning; she hurried from the room with hardly any notice of Kero lying on the floor by where she had been sitting, looking rather dizzy.

She ran from the room, stumbling a bit on the stairs, and was surprised to be caught by Yue. “HOE!” she cried in shock at the sight of her emotionless humanoid Guardian holding her upright.

“Mistress should be resting right now, not running around,” Yue told her, a hint of scolding in his voice.

“Ah, gomen Yue, but I need to get something,” Sakura informed him, squirming slightly to get free from his grasp.

“What does Mistress need? I shall fetch it,” Yue insisted, placing her down so she sat on the step. Sakura blushed as her eyes slid past Yue to her brother who was frowning at the bottom of the stairs like an angry sentinel. She knew he would never let her pass by him if Yue was insisting that she must rest. And yet to admit to wanting to make such a thing for such a person in front of everyone like this... “I-I need the sewing kit...” she whispered out in hopes that Touya would not hear.

“Is there something that must be darned? I shall do it for you while you sleep,” Yue stressed, spreading his wings in order to glide down stairs where Fujitaka kept the sewing supplies.

“No!” Sakura insisted quickly without thinking. Yue fell to an obedient bow before his Mistress, awaiting his orders. “I need to be the one to do it. Please, Yue...?” she begged.

“Then I shall fetch the kit and you shall do it in the morning after you have rested,” Yue continued to insist.

Sakura shook her head, tears beginning at the corner of her eyes once more. “I'm sorry, Yue, I know you're just worried about me, but... there's no time. If I wait until tomorrow it will be too late. I have to do this now.”

Tough troubled by this line of action, Yue bowed low once more. “As my Mistress orders...” and with that went and fetched the sewing kit for her.

Once the kit was in hand, Sakura wasted no time hurrying back to her room and barged in with a slamming open of the door. “Wah!” Kero cried in surprise at the loud bang. “Well, you sure got back in a hurry.” Floating over, Kero took a look at what Sakura was putting onto the floor. “What'd you do with that new card?”

“I put it in the book...” Sakura responded distractedly as she searched the room for some fabric to use. While Kero checked the book, Sakura found a fleece blanket the same colour as her namesake which she had bought that winter because it was soft and she liked the shade.

“It doesn't have a name...” Kero pointed out, patting the front cover of the book a few times after he closed it before going over once more to where Sakura was sitting in the middle of the room. “So why'd you get out the sewing box, anyway? You gonna make some clothes?”

“No, something else,” Sakura told him, pulling open the box and starting to sort the supplies that she'd need.

Kero sat down and tilted his head to one side in confusion. “What?” he asked his Mistress.

Sakura carefully lifted the blanket and laid her cheek upon it tenderly. _I know now how I feel about Syaoran-kun. So I have to make this before tomorrow..._

* * *

It had been several hours, Kero had watched two movies and won a racing game, and yet still his Mistress sat and worked diligently. This wasn't right, not in her state of exhaustion. It had been light out when Sakura had begun but it was already one in the morning and she showed no signs of stopping. “Sakura, you're still awake?” he asked in concern.

“I have to finish it tonight,” she told him. So far, she had finished the head, the legs, and one of the arms. She had made a few mistakes and had to start over a time or two on a body part because of it. She wanted this to be perfect, her masterpiece of love that he would keep forever. So things like legs being sewn at different lengths would just not do.

“You've been doing nothing but sew all night,” Kero pointed out. “Jeez, what are you making?”

“If you're tired, Kero-chan, you can go to sleep,” she told him, putting the needlework down for a moment to speak with him.

“Is it that important?” Kero questioned with a frown.

“...Yes.”

Taken aback by the calm maturity that his young Mistress expressed, he tilted forward slightly. “Is there something I can help with?”

“I want to make it myself,” Sakura repeated.

Kero gave a soft sigh of resignation and floated up to lay a paw on her head. “Got it... Then I won't get in the way anymore. But if you've got something you want me to do, wake me up. I'll do anything I can for you.”

Taking his paws into her hand, Sakura smiled lovingly at her solar Guardian. “Thank you, Kero-chan.” She gave him a kiss on the head and sent him away.

He went to the book and carried it over to his favourite pillow before going to sleep holding tightly to it.

* * *

In the living room at the bottom of the stairs, Yukito and Touya sat together, studying for exams. This was their last year of high school, and though they still had most the year to go, if they wanted good enough grades to get into university, they needed to start as early as they could.

Yukito placed his book down when he finished the chapter and stretched out the kinks. He didn't notice with his eyes closed how Touya's dark blue eyes flickered up to watch his figure as it arched. Instead, his own worried golden eyes focused on the stairs. “...Sakura-chan is still awake.”

“The lights are still on, so she's probably awake,” Touya agreed with a snip to his tone that caught Yukito's attention.

“I wonder if she's studying? Or maybe making something for school?” he pondered. Touya had told him when he woke up that he had been Yue for close to three hours, during which time he had fetched Sakura the sewing kit from the hall closet. He had been rather depressed that he had lost three hours of being alone with Touya and had been worrying about what may be wrong with Sakura ever since. After all, when Yue came out, it was usually because Sakura was in danger, wasn't it? “I'd help, but...”

“No. She's making something else,” Touya informed him, growing more annoyed by the second as he stared, unreading, at his book.

“Huh?” Yukito cocked his head at this; he leaned across the table so that he could get into an angle to see Touya's eyes. He knew from experience that Touya would talk more if eye contact could be obtained, though some times the things Yukito had to do to obtain the eye contact was at times rather intimate due to Touya's own habit of looking away when he didn't feel like saying something. Therefore, between the two of them, having their faces so close was rather normal and comfortable, even if they were only just friends still. “To-ya, do you know? The thing Sakura-chan is making?”

“Yeah, and I know what she's doing with it later,” Touya practically growled out, Yukito pictured for a moment that this was anime and imagined big red vein lines dancing around his head as he said this.

This idea amused Yukito for a moment, bringing a smile to his lips. _If only I could kiss away your troubles..._ Deciding that this was definitely the time to distract himself if such thoughts were flitting through his mind, Yukito pushed himself to his feet. “Can I borrow your kitchen?” he asked out of more curtsey than an actual need to obtain permission.

“For Sakura?”

“Yep. She's probably hungry; I'll make something warm for her,” Yukito explained from the doorway.

Giving a sigh, Touya stood as well. “I'll go too.”

“You'll make something?” Yukito asked, only partially as surprised as he was pretending to be.

“Yeah, I guess...” Touya admitted, reluctantly.

Yukito began to laugh at his best friend's behaviour, leaning on his shoulder for support while he teased him. “You're so shy, To-ya.”

“Shut up,” ordered the blushing brunet.

* * *

It was close to twenty minutes later that Yukito knocked on Sakura's door, food tray in hand. Hearing the girl's confused tone in response, Yukito spoke up through the door. “Sorry to be this late at night, Sakura-chan.”

“Yukito-san...?” hurried footsteps were heard and a moment later the door swung open and he was given access to her room. “Oh!” she let out quietly when she saw the meal he had brought with him. Just then her stomach made itself known.

Yukito smiled at the blushing eleven year old. “Sounds like I'm just in time.”

Yukito waited in the room with Sakura so that he could take away the dishes once she was done. “Thanks for the food, Yukito-san. Did you...” she said once she was finally finished.

“I just helped. To-ya is the one who made it,” Yukito explained.

“Onii-chan did?”

“To-ya's a little shy, so he let me carry it up to your room,” Yukito excused with that teasing smile he'd only get when he was poking fun at his best friend. When they heard a sneeze from Touya's room next door, they shared a laugh. After their chuckle, Yukito looked down and examined the body parts of the bear. “Is this what you're making?”

“Yes,” Sakura replied.

“Are you giving it to someone?”

This time she blushed. “Yes...”

Yukito smiled in fond comprehension. “You found them, the person you love most...”

“...Yes,” the Card Mistress admitted. It was still all so overwhelming, she could hardly believe it was real.

“Is it someone you know?” Yukito prompted, enjoying their conversation. He cared so much for her, and he was happy that she finally found someone to love for real this time.

“Yes.”

“Will you introduce me to them some time?” he asked, wanting to know this person who Sakura loved, to share in her happiness and cheer her on.

Sakura's growing giddiness through the odd maturity she had been displaying suddenly turned to a painful look instead. “That would probably be impossible,” she sighed.

Concern filled Yukito at the sudden change in her mood. “Why?”

“He's going... far away...” she confided sadly. Her eyes took on a distant look, like she was seeing something not quite there, but something told Yukito that this was okay and normal. “But... It doesn't mean I'll never see him again. Even though we're being separated for a time and will be far away, I'll see him again. And I'll want to see him.” Then Sakura blinked a few times and looked a little unsure. “...That's what I think.”

Yukito smiled lovingly at the young sorceress and said with confidence, “Then it will be okay.” She looked at him as if she wanted to believe he was right, but was still uncertain and so Yukito tried to figure out how to explain what he had begun to believe lately. “I've been thinking: if my true form of Yue ran out of magic power, we would disappear from this world. I've wondered... what would I do if I knew in advance?”

_If I could only see To-ya for a short time more..._ “Surely I'd look for a way not to disappear. If there was something I could do, I would do anything. If I couldn't see you... or To-ya... it would be absolutely horrible...” a terribly sad smile met his lips as he thought of such a thing. “Not that there'd be much I could do.”

Sakura shook her head hard, “That's not true!” she insisted.

Yukito laughed in embarrassment at the things he was admitting to his crush's little sister. “But you know...” _If I knew, I'd definitely tell him. I'd tell him I love him, and I'd kiss him. Because if I'm dying anyway, it wouldn't matter if he gets disgusted and mad at me, right? And if he wasn't disgusted..._ “I really would do my best. Not seeing the one you love most is really a bitter thing, and so you have to give it your all and do anything to keep it from happening.”

Sakura stared at him in a mixture of awe and sympathy. “...Yukito-san...” He wondered briefly what she must be thinking of him right this moment, to be looking at him with such eyes.

“And so...” It hurt... thinking about Touya in these terms, knowing that for the rest of his life most likely it would be an uphill battle to even be near him... yet something told him that the willingness to battle was what made all the difference. “And so if you want to see them, they'll want to see you and you will see each other again. If the two of you think like that, it will be okay,” he assured her.

“Thank you,” she told him honestly, “and I'm sure that the same is true for Onii-chan and you, also.” With that statement, a blushing Yukito bid Sakura a good night and returned to Touya.

* * *

The sound of birds that morning was the first thing Kero became aware of. His tiny paws clung tightly to the book as he fought off the day for a few moments more. But his fleeting dreams of Clow and the gardens at the Reed Mansion during London summers slipped through his grasp like mist as the sound of a different time—yet no less precious to him—met his large round ears. “All done!”

Rubbing his eye and stifling a yawn, Kero levitated up to his Mistress's shoulder. “What's up?” he asked, half laying on her as he slowly woke up. Over her shoulder, he saw her completed project lying on her lap. “You're done!” he cheered with her, sleep quickly fading as his usual spunk returned.

“Yeah!” she responded with a big smile of her own.

_That felt nice. She had been so sad these last two days..._

Kero's thoughts were interrupted by Sakura's cell phone going off. The only two people who had the number to that phone were Syaoran and... “Ah, Tomoyo-chan!”

//Today at the choir competition I heard something from Terada-sensei!// Tomoyo's worried voice came over the phone. //Li-kun's flight back to Hong Kong is at ten!//

“Ten!?” Sakura cried in horror. Her eyes darted quickly to the clock by her bed, the numbers read that it was five to nine.

//If the plane leaves at ten, he's probably already left his house!//

“How... awful...” she bemoaned, depression and hopelessness filling her at the realization. “I haven't... I haven't told him how I feel... oh no...!”

//Hold on, Sakura-chan!!// Tomoyo's voice called over the phone that hung limply in the brunet's hand. //There's still time! You have an invincible phrase!//

Taking a deep breath, Sakura recited to herself. “It will absolutely be all right,” putting on a determined smile, Sakura gave a nod. “Thank you, Tomoyo-chan!”

She quickly hung up the phone and ran down the stairs. At the sound of her thumping footsteps, Touya muttered out a half-hearted “Kaijuu...” but Sakura completely ignored him.

“What's wrong?” Yukito asked as he came from the kitchen, followed by Touya and Fujitaka. Kero floated over in concern from the direction of the stairs.

“I've only got five minutes! I have to get to the airport bus stop!” Sakura informed while putting on her rollerblades.

“Five minutes?” Yukito asked in surprise, “It's impossible on rollerblades!” his eyes darted to the bag she had with her, pink fuzz could just be seen out of the top. Yukito's heart lurched in comprehension.

“But...!” the absolute desperation in her face and tone was heartbreaking.

“I could fly you...” Kero offered, magic symbol already beginning to form on the ground under him.

“That's no good, there are too many people,” Yukito informed his bestial brother regretfully.

With a noise of high annoyance, Touya pulled his apron off. “I knew it would come to this...” he announced, moving towards the entry way, handing off his apron to Yukito as he passed. “Fine, I'll give you a ride on my bike.”

“Onii-chan!!” Sakura cried in relief and thanks. 

* * *

Syaoran sat on the bus alone wearing the tie that Mizuki had bought him in England. This wasn't so bad, after all. He had learned a lot on this trip... he had failed his duty, been upstaged by a family-less nobody despite his supposedly prodigy status, and had had his world turned upside down as he learned things about his heroes he never wished he had known. And yet, here he was, going home a failure with his tail between his legs, to face the ridicule and disappointment of his Clan, and all he could regret was her.

_I didn't get to tell her,_ he thought, remembering a million and one moments just of her. _But..._ but it was fine, really, because this way he wouldn't have to see her face as she realized what he had been going through. That look of pity would truly be worse than never saying what it is he felt.

“SYAORAN-KUN!!” Her desperate voice cut through his thoughts and the sound of the bus pulling out of the station alike.

Standing up in his surprise, Syaoran hurried to the other side of the bus, towards her voice, and saw her. Sakura was about half a block away, running after the bus—after him—as fast as she could. Behind her he could make out Touya sitting on his motorcycle watching the scene, but he was too far away to make out. Pushing the window open, Syaoran leaned out, returning her call. “Sakura!?”

Thankfully the bus was still moving slowly, at the rate it was going, she could almost catch up. From the bag she was carrying, she pulled out a winged pink bear much to his surprise and confusion. “I...!” she began, thrusting the bear out towards him as she nearly came even with him. But the bus was speeding up, and she was falling behind once more. “Understand my feelings...!” she announced to him, tears in her eyes.

More in shock than proper thought, Syaoran hoisted himself out the window as far as he could dare and barely managed to take hold of the bear's paw as the bus pulled faster away. He sat, hanging out the window, staring at her in disbelief and uncertainty as the bus pulled further and further away. He clutched the fleecy pink bear to his chest and watched her sink away into the distance until all she was, was a speck in his past.

When she could no longer see him looking at her, the exhaustion from the last day seemed to finally catch up, and suddenly it was too hard to even stay standing any longer. She was so drained and exhausted, her world swam in and out of view. But as she lost consciousness to Touya's startled call, she made a promise to herself. _I will wait. Forever. Because Syaoran-kun is the one I love most..._

* * *

Well now, that's the end of the manga retelling. Not a lot changed, as you can see, but from here on out is where things get different. Now, from here, up next is a side story that I'm inserting which chronologically takes place between this time and the movie time and details Yukito and Touya finally getting the nerve up to come out and confess to each other. After that, it's back to Sakura's story and the highly altered second movie. As for the cameo characters that appeared in this chapter, don't worry about them now, only a few of them are planned to make any actual  appearance in any of the sequals, and that's not for a while yet. The purpose of the scene was more that a) I needed powerful persons to have reacting to the sudden wave of *What the hell is this?!?* and didn't feel like making a bunch of random OCs that I claim are extremely powerful but who only show up for one paragraph each; b) that according to Word of God, every CLAMP character exists in every reality, but are only living different lives; and c) that I needed to set up for events that take place in the second book at the point in time where the wheels are set in motion. And by how things were written, you can probably guess which scenes those were.  And if youre into spoilers, you can check my DeviantArt account (the link to which can be found on my profile page) where I posted a picture of all the students in Sakura's year at Hogwarts. Shade and Sweet Water, everyone!


	3. Side Story: Touya's Beloved Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukito had always thought that he and Touya were close. Even if his feelings of love were not reciprocated, they were still best friends who shared more of themselves with each other than anyone else, right? So then why, in the wake of Nakuru's leaving, with all these girls suddenly deciding they may have a chance, does Touya tell them--before Yukito himself--that he's seeing someone? Who is this someone, and what does this have to say about their so-called close friendship?

Birth of the Deck Master

Prequel to Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Side Story: Touya's Beloved Person

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is owned by the four lovely ladies of CLAMP and was originally published by Kodansha comics.

* * *

The lunch bell rang with a definitive closing of books as hungry teenagers hurried to the cafeteria or gathered with friends to share their minds. Among them, one taupe haired youth approached the desk of his blue eyed best friend. With his fingers laying lightly on his companions desk corner, he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet.

Stern navy eyes levelled on him and softened slightly as they met the anxious face. “Aren't you going to buy your lunch?” Touya asked as he still sat in his seat, propping his head on one hand.

“I am,” Yukito confirmed, “you're not coming with me?”

“Nah, I packed a bento today. I'm going to wait until the halls clear. Meet you at the usual tree in ten?”

“Oh... all right. I'll meet you there,” Yukito said, slowly backing away.

“If you don't hurry, there won't be enough food left to feed you,” Touya teased.

Turning quickly to hide his light flush of embarrassment, Yukito hurried out the door and to the cafeteria to buy his lunch.

* * *

It was early July, and so most places within the court yard had students sitting around eating, but the tree next to Tomoeda Elementary was as good as reserved for Touya and Yukito to eat their lunches at. From almost the time Yukito had come to Seijou High, the two could be found there on every lunch break that it was nice enough to eat outside for. Up until a few weeks before, they had been forced to share it with an annoyance by the name of  Akizuki Nakuru, but since her return to England this had once again become their little retreat.

This is why Touya's smile was so relaxed as he watched his dearest friend pick his way through the other students with enough food to feed anyone else for a week. Those bright, polite smiles he offered everyone held no warmth, and Touya often wondered how no one ever seemed to notice that it was just as efficient a way to keep people at a distance as Touya's own glares were.

Yet everyone wanted to believe Yukito was as open and friendly as he seemed, they wanted to be close to him—dear to him—and Touya couldn't really blame them. Yukito was an amazing person, thoughtful and self-sacrificing, with a snarky, teasing sense of humour that he kept secret from most the world. Most would never suspect him of such a thing, for he appeared to be meek and endlessly polite, but to Touya it was the boldness, the power, the sly sort of snide remarks that really made Yukito special. Even if he did feel like cringing every time Yukito brought up the phrase 'sister complex'.

“To-ya!” Yukito called out to his friend as he drew close enough. “I bought bread!”

“They had enough left?” Touya teased.

“Yes. Even I don't eat that much!” insisted the Moon Guardian. 

Touya gave a snort. “You could have fooled me...”

This earned him Yukito's attempt at a glare for nearly a full minute, the reaction was much hindered by his friend's attempt not to laugh at the teasing, but the effort was a valiant one and made his face very cute for a moment anyway. When he found he could not hold the look any longer, and that the look wasn't getting the desired response anyhow, Yukito instead broke into a bright smile and changed the subject somewhat. “So, what did you bring in your bento?”

“Are you going to try and eat it all on me, too?” Touya smirked.

“No! I was just curious!” 

“Fine then, take a look for yourself.”

“Oooh! You brought tamagoyaki?! Oh, they all look so good!”

“I knew it.”

Their usual banter was brought to a halt by a quiet “Ano...” which caused both young men to turn and look. Standing there was a small group of five blushing girls, four of which were hanging back and clinging to each other for courage, but one stood slightly more up front than her classmates. Yukito recognized them as girls from class 3-C.

A piece of tamagoyaki found its way into Yukito's mouth as if by natural reflex. His eyes rolled closed and his hand came to his cheek as a blissful smile spread across his lips. “Oishii...” was all he said before the line of food to his mouth became a steady flow.

After a moment of stunned silence on the girl's part, the leading lady began again. “Ano, Kinamoto-san? May I speak with you in private?” she asked.

“Anything you have to say is fine in front of Yuki,” Touya told her, ignoring the fact his lunch was steadily disappearing as he had assumed that was the fate it would meet.

“Ah... um... yes, well... the thing is... um...” she stammered, shy of her audience. Glancing over her shoulder, she got an encouraging nod from one of her friends and gathered her courage to try again. Taking a step boldly forward, she swallowed her nerves and said, “Kinomoto-san, there's a play that's going to be held this Sunday and I wanted to know if you wouldn't consider going with me?”

Touya gave a tired sigh, and Yukito thought,  _He's going to reject another one._

“Thank you for the offer, Yoko-san, however...”

_Yes, he's rejecting her. He always rejects every girl._ And with that reassurance, Yukito went to return to ignoring the conversation in favour of the food.

“There's someone I'm already seeing. Forgive me.”

The food stopped half way to Yukito's mouth and fell from the chopsticks which now sat loosely within his hand. None of them noticed as his complexion suddenly matched his namesake. In that moment, the world became so hollow, without sound or sight as the only thing that mattered had already been said.

“Oh, I see. I'm sorry for disturbing your lunch,” Yoko insisted, bowing to Touya before hurrying back to the comfort of her friends. 

“Awa, tough luck, Yoko-chan. It seems Kinomoto-kun is still dating Nakuru-sama after all…” one of her friends said quietly as they walked away.

_No. No, not Akizuki-san. To-ya definitely does not hold feelings for her. But…_

“Yuki, you okay?”

“Wha…?” 

“You stopped eating,” Touya pointed out. Blankly, Yukito looked down at the boxed lunch sitting on his lap, only half full now. “It’s not Sakura, is it?”

“Oh, no, um… I just… I shouldn’t be eating your lunch. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not like you haven’t done it a million times before…”

“Sill… that’s no excuse…” the moon guardian stated, pushing the bento back into its owner's hands. Belatedly, he realized he had been eating with his friends chopsticks and was about to apologize and find a new pair when Touya casually picked them up and began eating with them all the same. 

Yukito forced himself not to react as a voice in his head sounding strangely like Sakura's started crying out  _An indirect kiss! An indirect kiss! They were in your mouth and now they're in his, that makes it almost as if it were a kiss!_ Though he was sure he had never heard her say such a thing, and after what Touya had just reviled— _to strangers before me—_ he was sure his best friend would never appreciate the knowledge that Yukito thought of such things.

To distract himself as much as to avoid needing to say something to fill the silence, Yukito dug into his bag of purchases and pulled out one of the buns he had bought. He ripped part of it off and nibbled at it, suddenly not quite as hungry as he had been before. Touya seemed to notice his odd behaviour, however, because he stared at Yukito with a serious look in his eye before asking, “Hey, what's up?”

Yukito put on his absolute best possible smile, something that always worked to put everyone at ease, and insisted, “Mmm, it's nothing. Just a bit of a headache from class.” He could tell from the look Touya was giving him that he didn't believe him. But then, how was Yukito to tell him that the news about his friend finding happiness was ripping him apart?

* * *

Yukito scribbled down the equation that the teacher had written on the board without really being able to focus enough to understand what he was writing. No matter how he tried, his mind kept jumping back to lunch and the revelation he had become privy to. Without realizing it, his eyes once more scanned the girls in the room. Who could it be?

He knew it wasn't Akizuki Nakuru, he had seen more than enough evidence that Touya absolutely hated her. That's how Yukito had been so willing to tolerate her as she hung all over the man he loved. Well, that and the lunches she brought were always delicious. It must be a reincarnation of Clow Reed thing, Eriol and Fujitaka making such wonderful meals.

But... Touya wasn't the sort of person who would lie about something like getting a girlfriend just to get rid of the other girls trying to ask him out. He had always been so forward with his rejections before, there was no need to come up with such a tactic now. So if he wasn't lying to them, then that meant he really did have a girlfriend that he had just forgotten to mention. And in so many ways, that hurt more than the fact that he had lost his chance at his heart.

How could Touya have done such a thing? Weren't they the best of friends? Or was that as much of a lie as the rest of his life had been? And if it was, how much else was there on top of it? His history, his duty, his friendship...

Around and around the questions in his head spun, alternating in waves of betrayal, depression, and regret. First the feeling of betrayal that his friend would go and hide something like that on him. Followed closely by pondering if the friendship was really true or if he had only imagined their closeness for his own comfort.

These uncomfortable thoughts would give rise to shame, resignation, and endless amounts of heartbreak at losing the one he loved. And from there would come the questions of his own actions, was there something he could have done or said that would have made Touya his? If he had made a move, taken a chance and just gone for it, would it be his happily ever after right now? But then he would recall how Touya obviously didn't care for him, because he never found him worthy enough to tell the truth to, and so once again he was stuck feeling used and betrayed.

There was a tingling at the back of Yukito's neck that was slowly gaining in intensity until finally it could not be ignored under the torrent of other thoughts and emotions. Turning his head to glance behind himself, Yukito quickly met the intense navy stare of the one he had liked to believe was his best friend. Maybe it was all in his head? Maybe Touya had just agreed earlier that day and hadn't had the right opportunity to tell Yukito?

Either way, Yukito flashed his most beloved person a smile and turned away to look at the teacher once more. He couldn't bring himself to ever do anything mean to Touya, but the private giddiness that he usually experienced when he knew his friend was watching him was missing. Instead, the attention made him feel worse, like all his thoughts and feelings were on display for ridicule by the one who held his heart.

And should it be considered anything but ridicule? After all, a group of girls Touya hardly even knew the names of were freely given details about his personal love-life that his so-called best friend had no prior knowledge about. As he fought to keep his placid smile in place for the room at large, the fleeting thought through Yukito's mind was if it were possible to become physically sick from heartbreak.

* * *

The school bell rang, signalling the end of the day. While Yukito had tried to slip out to his bike unnoticed among the swarms of students, Touya still showed up at the bike next to his not even a minute later. His intense navy eyes held a strange shimmer of caution in them, as he watched Yukito get the bike ready to leave on. “So,” the dark-haired teen began as if testing the waters before plunging in, “are we still on for studying tonight?”

Yukito didn't look up as he finished fastening his book bag to the rack behind his seat, though his hands did slow for a moment. “I'm sorry, Touya, I forgot that I have a lot of housework to get done, so I can't.”

“ 'Touya'?” his friend quoted, looking a little hurt and taken aback.

“Hmm? What's wrong?” Yukito finally lifted his eyes to focus on his friend. “It is your name, after all.” 

“Well, yes, but... you always...” Touya attempted to explain, but when his friend's face didn't alter he sighed and finally looked away, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Never mind. Anyway, why don't I come over and help you? If it's really a mess, an extra pair of hands can get it done faster, then we can study afterwards,” he suggested, giving one of his rare smiles.

Yukito's heart jumped to his throat at the sight of that kind smile, but he forced himself to look away and busy himself with pulling the bike from its stand instead. “That won't be necessary. There's no need for you to clean up after me, I've already taken too much advantage of your hospitality and kindness as it is.” And with that, Yukito began walking his bike out to the street where he would be able to get on and ride away.

Yet still, Touya would not let him escape as the dark haired youth hurried to catch up once more, intense gaze burning into the side of his friend's head. They mounted their bikes outside the gate and began pedalling in the mutual direction of their residences before Touya spoke again. “Alright, what's wrong with you today?”

Yukito's eyes barely flickered over to his friend for an instant. “Nothing's wrong, why would you assume so?”

“You're upset. You have been most the day. What's up?” Touya demanded to know.

“I'm not upset. I told you, I just have a bit of a headache, that's all,” Yukito insisted, despite the cold and irritable tone just under the surface.

“Yuki...” the brunet growled out, obviously not buying the lie.

“Really, Touya, what reason would I have for being upset?” Yukito challenged his friend.

A quiet, disheartened, “'Touya' again...” was his only reply.

For long moments, the two young men were silent as they rode. Yukito's mind returned to the churning dance of questions which had been plaguing him all afternoon. As the thoughts continued, Yukito unconsciously began to slow down, and his confused friend followed suit unquestioningly. The minutes ticked past in a sort of uncomfortable silence that was wholly unusual between the two of them. Finally, when the silence started to get daunting—suffocating—Yukito latched on to the first thing he could think of to say, “So, who is she?” he asked, praying that none of his hurt made it through the sunny smile plastered on his face.

Touya's eyes filled with bewilderment at the forced teasing tone in his friend’s voice. Shooting him a look, he asked “Who is who?”

Yukito turned away, unable to keep the smile up while Touya denied any knowledge of the girlfriend he had admitted to having earlier that day. Well, he finally had his answer to how close he really was to Touya. With white knuckles gripping the handlebars and blinking back the tears, he explained, “At lunch, when those girls asked you to go on a date with them, you said you were already seeing someone. I just thought... maybe... you'd want to talk about her to someone,” at least he had managed to keep his voice from wavering.

“Is that what's got you so upset?” Touya questioned.

_Of course it's why I'm upset!_ Yukito thought angrily,  _not only am I losing the man I love, but I find out at the same moment that he didn't even care enough about me to share something so important with!_ But instead, he swallowed his tears to drown his broken heart and smiled at the one he had loved for so long now. “No, of course not. Why would something like that upset me?”

Touya's frustration finally reached its limit and his hand snapped out and grabbed the arm of his friend, throwing Yukito off balance and forcing them both to a sudden halt. “Don't lie to me! Those fake smiles haven't ever fooled me, so just drop the act already!”

Yukito's eyes were wide, hurt, and scared for a moment, before he turned his face away in shame. “Fine. You're right. It does bother me,” he admitted, fighting to hold in the tears and praying that somehow he wouldn't lose Touya forever because of this. Because that would be sadder than anything else could possibly be. “It's not that you found someone to love. I'm happy for you, I really am,” Yukito insisted, trying to convince himself as much as Touya. Then finally, he turned accusational eyes on his friend, ignoring the tears that had begun running down his cheeks, and he challenged Touya to give him answers. “But why didn't you tell me? Why was it through you telling practical strangers that I had to find out?! Aren't we supposed to be best friends!?”

Feelings of frustration and guilt boiling over, the emotionally stunted teen did the only thing he knew how in this situation, he argued right back, “I tried telling you! I've been trying for months! You just never got the message!”

Yukito's universe froze.  _Months?_ This had been going on for months? His beloved... he had lost him so long ago, and never even knew it? Yukito shuttered from the weight of it all, tears flowing freely from the shocked and lost golden eyes. And as he tried to wrap his mind around this new-found reality, a voice flitted quietly through his mind, almost unheard.

_Again. I am being shunted for a human's interaction again..._

Seemingly unaware of the state his best friend was in, Touya continued the momentum he had managed to achieve. “I tried, I really did, but you just never got it. I tried everything I could think of, at every opportunity. The dinners, the walks, the festivals, the movies... over and over I tried, but you never got the message.

“Every time the mood was right, and I'd try to breach the subject, try to take things to the next level, it was clear as day you weren't thinking about it the same way I was. I tried to be patient, I figured you just weren't ready for it, I didn't want to force you because I couldn't stand the thought of losing you, and what if you were just pretending not to notice because you didn't want to hurt me by telling me no...

“But... Damn it! The signs were there! I know they were! The way you'd look at me sometimes, the fact that you showed me a part of you that no one else ever saw, even Yue said so! But you never responded to me, no matter what I tried. I even tried telling you that I feel for you what you feel for me and still you didn't get it!” finally having gotten it off his chest, even if poorly worded, let the frustration of the whole thing fade away. All that was left was a prayer that he hadn’t done something wrong and lost his friend forever. Touya looked at the Moon Guardian standing before him with such a pleading need that it could almost be called desperation. “I didn't... I didn't misunderstand the signals... did I? You do feel the same way... don't you?” 

Yukito was beside himself. He felt like one wrong word, one misinterpretation, would ruin this tentative hope that he found budding in his chest forever. “You... you mean to say... that you... find me attractive? That I am the one you meant when you told those girls you were seeing someone already?”

Touya lowered his eyes in shame, figuring he had somehow destroyed not only his chance at love, but also the friendship he held so dear. “Yes,” he admitted, with nothing left to loose. “I decided you were the only one I wanted to be with since back before Valentines Day...”

Yukito finally smiled through the tears at his blushing friend. He felt like his insides were made of bubbles and he let out a giggle at the feeling, causing Touya to look up at him again with a mixture of shock and pain. Yukito just reached out with a hand and laid it on Touya's as he let his face fill with adoration and wonder. “I would like that.”

Searching the face of the one he loved for any show of rejection, Touya finally smiled and returned the affectionate caress of Yukito’s hand on his own. They stood like that for a moment, just smiling and blushing, and coming to terms with this new development in their relationship, when finally Touya spoke again. “Ne, Yuki...”

“Yes, To-ya?”

“Can I... can I kiss you?”

“Nn. I think I would like that, too...”


	4. Chapter Three: The Lonely Card

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a month and a half since her adventures ended and the little Card Mistress said goodbye to her sorcerer friends. However, while hard at work preparing for her lead role in a summer festival play, she begins to feel the vanishing presence of none other than a Clow Card. What's going on? How can their be any more Cards? When Eriol's answers are more troubling than helpful, what is a little heroine to do when she has to face her toughest fight yet all alone?

Birth of the Deck Master

Prequel to Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Chapter Three: The Lonely Card

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is owned by the four lovely ladies of CLAMP and was originally published by Kodansha comics.

* * *

“...going out almost every night. I admit I'm a little worried if this pattern continues; his grades may begin to drop. But Touya-san is happier than I have seen him in years, so I'll let it slide for now. Do you think that's a good idea?”

The sound of her father's voice from the otherwise empty kitchen was more than telling. Sakura Kinomoto, eleven year old sorceress destined to be the most powerful sorceress in history, knew of only one reason her father would be talking to himself in the empty room. Part of her feared the fact and part of her envied it, but without a doubt it could only be that.

Hanging back in the doorway, holding her Sun Guardian to her chest, she tried to be unobtrusive as she tested her ability of stretching her senses in hopes of seeing as well. She knew if her father noticed her, he would stop talking. They never talked in front of the children because neither child could see her any longer. However, whether she told him or he noticed Sakura's magical presence on his own, he turned and looked at his daughter with a smile.

“Sakura-san, Cerberus, do you two need something?” Fujitaka asked.

“We were getting a little hungry...” Sakura admitted.

“Of course, it is about lunch time now, isn't it? What would you like to eat today?” he asked her with a smile.

Sakura shrugged in response. “Anything's fine...”

“I want pudding!” Kero announced from in Sakura's fists.

“Mou, Kero-chan! I told you we don't have the ingredients here for that!” Sakura scolded her Guardian. 

Fujitaka laughed, “Indeed we do not, but how about I bake a cake for us to have after dinner tonight? Will that be all right instead of pudding?”

“Yeah, I guess that'll do,” Kero confirmed. 

“Were you...” Sakura began nervously, “were you talking to Okaa-san just now...?”

Fujitaka's eyes widened slightly in surprise before his expression fell to a sad sort of nervous smile. “Yes, I was.”

“Umm... Is-is she still here?” Sakura asked, her face both pleading and ashamed.

“Yes, Nadeshiko-san is over there, by the sink...” he informed.

Turning in the indicated direction, Sakura bowed slightly in respect. “Konnichiwa, Okaa-san... Um... I love you...?”

Smiling with a sad sort of fondness, Fujitaka blinked the tears from the corner of his eyes as he spoke for his dead wife. “She says she loves you very much as well,” he told his daughter. “Oh yes, you received another letter in the mail today.”

“From Eriol?” Kero asked hopefully.

“No, this one is from Hong Kong,” Fujitaka informed both of them.

Sakura's face pinkened at the information. “Syaoran-kun?” She hurried forward excitedly and took the letter from her father before running upstairs to read it.

With a fond smile on his face, the archeologist looked to the transparent woman who floated in the room. “Our little girl is growing up...”

* * *

Sakura clambered onto her bed, black teddy which she had taken the liberty of naming 'Syaoran' tucked under her arm, and letter in hand. Propping herself up on her elbows while she lay on her stomach, she cuddled the bear a moment before tearing open the envelope and taking out the letter her most beloved person had written to her.

_Sakura,_

_I'm happy to hear that things are going so well in Tomoeda for everyone. I really miss being there with everyone, I've had little time to do anything but work and train since I got back to Hong Kong that being with you every day like that seems more and more like a distant dream._

_You need to be sure to not let Daidoji do anything strange in those videos you're making with her. She does have the habit of getting carried away, after all. But then, if she has the time to be scripting up scenarios for you then I don't need to be too worried about problems happening._

_And speaking of scripting, Yamazaki wrote me a letter and said you were putting on a play for an upcoming event. What part are you playing in it? He said that Yanagisawa was the writer, so I hope for your sake that it's not going to be an occult one._

_On a more serious note, though, there may be reason for you to be wary. I recently received a “gift” from someone claiming to be Clow Reed. As I know your father wouldn't be the one responsible, it is most likely from Hiiragizawa, which could only mean that he's up to something again. However, we shouldn't write off the possibility of a third party being the culprit just yet._

_Whatever the case, this act screams suspicious behaviour, so please be careful. I don't want anything bad to happen to you when I can't be there to help. Even though the help I could offer someone like you is minimal, I find it is worse to be so far away and not able to do anything at all. So please, for both your own sake and for the sake of everyone who cares about you, be careful._

_Yours,_

_Li Xiao Lang_

Folding the letter carefully back along its creases, Sakura held it to her chest as she entered a state of hanyan.  _Syaoran-kun said he cares about me!!_ she thought with a blush. She laid for a time in this state, daydreaming about his honey eyes and proud figure before finally pushing herself up and going to the desk to write her reply.

_Syaoran-kun,_

_It makes me so happy to hear from you, as always. I hope your work load lightens up somewhat so you can have some fun as well. I know you push yourself really hard, but please remember to take care of yourself. We all miss you so much, I would hate to see anything bad happen to you because you're working so hard. I wish I could be of some help, and I hope that at the very least hearing from me makes you half as happy as I am whenever I get a letter from you._

_As for the play, Naoko-chan is writing a fairy tale about two countries torn apart by war. This time the roles were chosen by class vote, rather than ladder game. Tomoyo-chan is in charge of costumes, and I did such a good job in the last play, the class decided I should have the role of the princess. Yamazaki-kun is the one playing the prince of the enemy kingdom who the princess is supposed to fall in love with. You remember Yamazaki-kun's performance in Sleeping Beauty, right? How he stole the show, even though he was the evil witch? Everyone's positive he'll be amazing this time, too, so they're really excited._

_I felt a little weird playing opposite Yamazaki-kun at first, and offered the role of princess to Chiharu-chan when I heard what the plot was going to be, but she said it was fine, and it is only a play after all. So, it's not too completely weird pretending to fall in love with Yamazaki-kun in the context, right? Hoe, it's all so confusing._

_Also, I have decided! I am going to stop being afraid of ghosts now. Even though Onii-chan can't see them cause he gave his magic to Yukito-san, Otou-san now sees them instead since Clow Reed's magic was split. Otou-san spends a lot of time around Okaa-san, but he's nervous about letting me know because he knows about my fear. I don't want to make Otou-san and Okaa-san sad, and I don't want to be scared of Okaa-san, so I've decided I just won't be afraid of ghosts any longer. Eriol-kun and Kero-chan both said it was a good idea, as likely when my powers get stronger I'll start being able to see them as well._

_What kind of “gift” were you sent? I haven't had any dreams lately, not about anything important at least. I dreamed about where the neighbour's lost cat was, and what the new cheer-leading routine would be, but that's it. So, I don't think it's anything too bad, I would probably have a dream about it if it was. But even so, I'll be careful and tell you right away if anything bad happens, just as I promised._

_And also, please don't say all the wonderful time we spent together was just a dream. You are my very important friend, and it would be sad if it wasn't real. I can't wait to see you again, so please try and visit soon._

_Until next time,_

_Kinomoto Sakura_

Putting her pen aside, Sakura folded up her letter and left it on the corner of her desk to be taken care of later. She took her Syaoran-bear and curled back up on her bed.  _I want to see you, even if it does mean more danger, I want to go back to the days when I could see you every day. And this time around, I'd be sure to let you know what is in my heart._

* * *

The full moon shone down over King Penguin and the three figures perched atop it. Sakura, in a blue and white star dress, stood proudly between her two winged guardians in all their glory. Slowly, determinedly, Sakura reached her hands out before herself and began to chant. “Hoshi no chikara o himeshi 'kagi' yo! Shin no sugata o ware no mae ni shimese. Keiyaku no moto Sakura ga meijiru. RELEASE!” (1)

From the orb of light between her hands grew her pink staff topped with the encircled star. Suddenly, moving more quickly than the ritualistic motions she had been preforming before, she summoned a card to her hand from her pocket and threw it out before herself. Pointing the tip of her staff at the card which now floated a good meter away, she called out it's name and therefore called upon it's magic power. “JUMP!”

Transparent wings burst forth from either side of each foot, like Hermes's flying sandals. Then with a single great leap she took to the air, effectively dodging the burst of fire that hit where she had been standing a moment before. A dragon made of swirling flames reared up from the ground and circled the Card Mistress who was suspended mid-air. Sakura watched its head circle around behind herself, ignoring the vaguely human shape outlined within it's chest. She once again summoned a card to her hand, throwing it straight up before calling out it's name. “WATERY!”

A torrent of rain poured down from the cloudless heavens, drenching out the fiery beast and returning it to a sealed form. Sakura's foot touched down atop the monkey bars just in time to dodge a boulder that came speeding towards her. “SHIELD!” She cried, throwing out her defensive spell as another boulder crashed into it's surface. Yue swooped from the sky and lifted his Mistress to safety while Cerberus took up her position and met the stone mammoth head-on with a blast of fiery breath. Landing to the side while the mammoth was distracted, Yue set his Mistress down and let loose a volley of powerful magic missiles, strengthened more than usual by the full moon hanging brightly above them.

The projectiles burrowed deep into the mammoth's side, splitting the stone and causing it to crumble. Yet just as it did, a new threat arose as a titan made of wood and vines stretched up behind the lunar guardian and sorceress. Acting quickly, Sakura called forth one last card. With a cry of “SWORD!” her magic staff reshaped itself into an enchanted blade which she used to slice through the nature giant and fell it. Once the opponent was down, the Card Mistress released the spell and reunited with her guardians to prove that none of them had even broken a sweat.

Tomoyo clapped excitedly as she sat beside Kero and Sakura admiring the ending credits of her latest film masterpiece. “It's so wonderful!” she announced in her starry-eyed daze that was oh-so-typical when anything related to Sakura was involved.

To her left, Sakura sat clutching a pillow which every now and again she'd bury her red face in out of embarrassment. “T-This even had background music...”

“Of course!” Tomoyo insisted, as if the fact were the most natural thing in the universe. “I took the liberty of adding it during the editing. Finding music that was perfectly timed to all the scenes was difficult. But, it was all for you, Sakura-chan!”

The only thing Sakura could find to say in response to that was a quiet, nervous little “Ho-hoe...”

“Man, I look really studly,” Kero interjected, flying over to the TV to get a better look. When his image stopped being shown on the television, he hit the rewind button on the VCR and announced “All right, I'll watch it again!”

“Ke-Kero-chan!” Sakura scolded, attempting to keep her guardian under some form of control. She didn't want to upset Tomoyo at all with any of his self-interested presumptions. 

However, her friend didn't seem to be registering any of it, as she quite happily continued to talk all about her film. “But because you helped me out, Sakura-chan, I was able to shoot wonderful footage!”

“You're embarrassing me,” the young sorceress admitted.

Tomoyo just smiled reassuringly. “There's no reason to be embarrassed. You turned all the cards into Sakura Cards, and matured into an amazing magical girl!”

“But her habit of being late hasn't changed, even in the 5th grade,” Kero felt necessary to add.

“Kero-chan!” Sakura cried in reprimand, blushing from the open way they were talking about her.

Kero gave a nervous laugh at his mistress's indignation before choosing to smooth things over by returning the topic back to the tape. “But this really looks good! The enemy we made out of Firey isn't that bad, either.”

Sakura shyly rubbed her cheek with her index finger as she responded, “Before I made them, I read tons of fantasy novels that I borrowed from Naoko-chan.”

“Now that Hiiragizawa-kun has gone back without any incidents, a little screenwriting and exaggeration is inevitable.” Tomoyo pointed out as if it were the most natural thing in the universe.

“Tomoyo, you're a pretty wicked girl.” Kero teased in a dangerous tone of voice.

“I choose every means to film Sakura-chan wearing the clothes I made. Ohohohohoho!” the young heiress replied in like.

Sakura nervously watched her best friend and guardian interacting and could only express herself with a quiet little “Hoe...” as they went on planning all the things they were going to do to her.

“So, what other cards did you want to record getting used?” Kero asked, calling the Book to himself and opening it up to look at the cards in question.

Tomoyo also leaned in to examine the deck. “Well, there's Illusion, and Thunder, Erase too... Oh, and I'd love to know what this card does.” Tomoyo suggested, holding up the one card that had never been called on before.

“That card?” Kero asked, floating up to it. “This is the card that Sakura made from her tear. But it doesn't have any name on it. How do you call on a card with no name?”

“Then how about Flower?” Tomoyo suggested instead.

However, Sakura was no longer hearing the two as they planned the next big adventure movie.  _Syaoran-kun_ ... she missed him so much, with him being away in Hong Kong. That card was created the moment that she had realized her true feelings for her friend and fellow sorcerer. It held a special place in her heart, even if she didn't know what it did or how to get it out of card form.  _Syaoran-kun... even if it means trouble, I want to see you again._

“SAKURA!!” Syaoran's voice suddenly called. Looking up in surprise and a momentary flash of excitement, the Card Mistress realized that it was only the television. 

She watched Syaoran run to her side and fall to his knees behind her, supporting her and protecting her as he always had, while Yue's cold voice washed over everyone. “If you don't use attack cards as well, you can only run! If you don't get serious, it's over.”

“What's this? Bonus content?” Kero asked, flying over to look at the screen.

“Oh, there must have been some old footage still on the tape.” Tomoyo expressed.

“Oh! I'm there too! I really do look awesome...” Kero expressed, watching the majesty of his true form.

“I'll forget...” Sakura's voice floated to her own ears from the other side of Kero, “...the one I love most...?”

“That was a scary time...” Tomoyo admitted as she watched the events unfold on the television. 

“More than scary, it was so sad, and lonely,” Sakura corrected. “I remember I fought so desperately just so that lonely future wouldn't come about... So I wouldn't loose Tomoyo-chan, and Kero-chan, and all the cards, and... Syaoran-kun...”

“It's already been a month and a half since Li-kun returned to Hong Kong,” Tomoyo pointed out.

“Yeah...” was the only reply she received. 

Seeming to almost hear the conversation going on outside the television, the Sakura inside it smiled and announced, “Somehow, I'll surely be alright.”

“Tomoyo-chan... you knew... about my feelings for Syaoran-kun,” the brunette confirmed, blushing rather brightly.

“Yes,” was her cousin's simple reply.

“I was the only one that didn't realize it until the end,” Sakura admitted.

“I'm sure that Li-kun fell in love with you, Sakura-chan, because you are a fluffy person like that,” Tomoyo reassured.

To this, the sorceress felt the need to protest. “But... Syaoran-kun never said he liked me, and I didn't get a chance to tell my feelings to him, either.”

“How about by telephone or by letter?” suggested the seamstress.

“No, it's something that I need to say in person. I want to see him and tell him properly,” Sakura insisted. _So please, hurry and see me again, Syaoran-kun._

* * *

 

  1. this is the original Japanese chant that Sakura uses to summon her star staff. The translation is approximately “Key which hides the power of the stars! Show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under contract! Release!”



* * *

The summer sun beat down on Tomoeda on this peaceful July morning. Nadeshiko watched as the birds collected in the trees and on the grass, and marvelled at the world that she could take part in even after her own demise. The sound of her husband humming some classical piece to himself as he fixed breakfast in the kitchen filled her sense of being with a warm contentedness.

Her son, who had only just recently lost his magic, sat and read the morning paper at the dining room table unaware of his mother's presence in the living room. He would be going to work within the hour with that boyfriend of his, and was just waiting for said boyfriend to show up. He really was so very self-sufficient, this son of hers, and that knowledge made her proud of his every achievement.

The quiet peace of the morning was shattered, however, with a loud cry that nearly shook the very foundations of the house. “HOEEEE!! I'm going to be late!”

Upstairs in her room Sakura had awoken and noticed the time was after nine already. She jumped from bed and rushed around her room, throwing things on as quickly as she could manage. From his drawer that doubled as his personal bedroom, Kero's head popped out, still in the nightcap that Tomoyo had sewn for him so long before. “We have the usual pattern again today...” he commented as he watched Sakura dashing back and forth while she put on her things.

“It's summer break, so I'm used to waking up late!” the Card Mistress defended herself while changing her shirt.

“You're in uniform,” Kero pointed out, “so today's a school day?”

“Yeah, to get ready for the Nadeshiko Festival,” she explained, brushing her hair in her little table-top mirror.

This managed to peak Kero's interest, though he was always one who wanted to be part of every piece of action or excitement. “Oh! The festival that all of Tomoeda gets ready for?”

“Yeah,” Sakura replied as she put her hair up into it's usual pigtails. “Class 5-2 is representing Tomoeda Elementary School with a play, and Naoko-chan wrote the script.”

“And what role are you playing?” Kero questioned conversationally.

“A-a princess...” Sakura informed bashfully as she packed her script back into her bag.

“Oh, the princess has gotta be the lead role!” Kero expressed excitedly. “That means I have to find a way to see it. I wonder if I can manage to get the Snow-bunny to take me... Well, that kid was the princess last time. Hahahaha! That was such a horrible sight!” Kero stopped his musing for a moment before asking, “by the way, Sakura, are you going to school like that?”

“Eh?” she asked, looking down at herself. It took a moment to register that she was only half dressed and still wore her pyjama pants. “HOEEEE!!”

From downstairs all the family heard was her cry, followed by loud crashes and bangs as she likely fell over once more in her hurry. Fujitaka just smiled and went back to preparing breakfast while Touya, who was setting the table, gave an annoyed sigh. A minute later, the little lady herself entered the room as her usual smiling ball of energy.

“Ohayou!” she called to the family in general as she entered.

“Ohayou, Sakura-san,” Fujitaka replied.

Before going to join them at the table, however, she turned to the photo on the bookshelf. “Ohayou, Okaa-san!”

As Touya put the plate with her breakfast down in front of her, he replied, “Osoyou... (1)”

Sakura bristled at his jab and repeated herself with a determined glare, “O-HA-YO-U!” she insisted at him.

His response was to sit down across from her and rest his head in his hand, levelling her with one of his teasing smirks. “Osoyou... Kaijuu...”

“I'm not a kaijuu!” Sakura argued back at her taunting older brother.

Fujitaka chose this moment to interrupt his children in their sibling squabbles. “Now, now, both of you. If we don't hurry, we'll be late. Now, let's eat.”

Complying with their father's request, the children dropped the subject and turned to their respective meals. After a short period of silence, Fujitaka turned to his daughter sitting beside him and remarked, “Say, you usually start in the afternoon. You're rather early today.”

“Yeah, we only have one week left. There are lots of spots I can't perform well, so I have to practice more,” Sakura admitted.

“I look forward to it,” Fujitaka insisted, earning a shy little laugh from his daughter.

Never one to miss an opportunity to poke fun at his kid sister, Touya chose to comment as well. “A play where a monster is the lead role... Wouldn't the Nadeshiko Festival be a mess?”

Sakura shot a glare at her snide older brother from across the table as she continued to eat, scheming how to get back at him, but having no comeback on the tip of her tongue at the moment. So she instead used the food in her mouth as an excuse why her retort had to take some time to come.

“What about you, Touya-san?” Fujitaka asked, turning the tables slightly.

“My college will be having a parlour, so I'll be helping them out,” he responded easily.

“Yukito-san too?” Sakura asked excitedly, standing up in her boundless energy.

“We do go to the same college...,” Touya reminded.

“Waaai!” Sakura cheered, throwing her hands in the air in excitement. “I'll have to try it out!”

“I'll make sure to put Tabasco in what we serve you,” Touya promised jokingly.

* * *

  1. Osoyou means 'late morning'. To understand it correctly, however, it requires to actually break down the term as well as the term Sakura is using, which is generally translated as “good morning”. See, while “Ohayou” is what you say as a morning greeting to someone, it is generally used between the times of dawn and about 10am. After that you're supposed to switch to saying “good day” or “konnichiwa” instead. The actual word itself, however, translates literally as “(you) are early” and would function as the beginning of a sentence which has merely been clipped down over the centuries in a similar way that “konnichiwa” literally means “good (kon) day (nichi) *subject marker* (wa)”. What Touya says literally means “(you) are late” as a morning greeting, indicating that he's saying “good morning” but it's technically too late in the day to be using “good morning”. It's used generally as a sarcastic greeting for someone who has slept the morning away and so can't be greeted with “good morning” any longer, and that is why Sakura becomes irate at him for using it, as it is likely still before 10am during the scene and he's just using it to poke fun at her for not being an early riser.



* * *

As Sakura roller-bladed through the streets of Tomoeda that morning, her eyes wondered to every building. Shop workers were putting up decorations for the festival. Flowers, lights, and ornaments coloured store fronts brightly, and it seemed like everyone had a smile on their face. Many windows and doors, and even a few signs were trimmed in her mother's flowers, making the whole street look like it were part of some sort of park rather than a commercial district.

“Wow... the preparations are coming along pretty well! All of Tomoeda's involved with this festival. I'm so looking forward to it!” she couldn't help but announce out loud. Before long, she came upon a construction project and stopped to observe the workers for a short time. “The play's being held here... It makes me nervous... Oh yeah! I'm going to be late!” 

* * *

Within the classroom as she approached, Sakura could hear her gathered classmates already going through the rehearsals as Yamazaki was reading his lines. “Please, Princess... Do stop crying, a smile suits you more...”

Creaking the door open as quietly as she could manage, she slipped inside. One of the stage hands was sitting in for her, looking very uneasy while Yamazaki professed sweet words at him so naturally. However, she wasn't quiet enough apparently, as Tomoyo turned at the sound of the door clicking shut and called out a greeting, “Sakura-chan!”

“Sorry I'm late...” she told the room in general as the rehearsal came to a pause and the thankful looking stage hand scurried off the 'stage' that had been created by the circle of preteens. 

“Sakura-chan!” Naoko, the play's scriptwriter and director, practically pounced on her with script in hand.

Sakura jumped at Naoko's determined greeting, scared that she was going to be scolded by her friend, “Yes?”

“I added a couple of lines. Can you try acting it out?” Naoko pressed.

“S-sure!” Sakura agreed, taking the newest rendition of the script and going over to put her bag and hat to the side with everyone else's.

Following after her, Naoko pointed to a few spots on the page. “Here, these are the new lines.”

“Alright,” the sorceress confirmed, “I'll try it.”

“Then, from where you were just now, Yamazaki-kun,” Naoko ordered.

“Okay!” he responded, not the least upset about having his scene interrupted. Unnoticed to most of the room, now that Sakura was present, Tomoyo pulled out her camera and began filming the rehearsal.

“Then let's start!” Naoko gave the cue.

Falling naturally back into the role, Yamazaki began again with the emotion and gestures of a professional. “Please, Princess... Do stop crying, a smile suits you more than anyone. Please forgive me for making you so sad. However, I cannot stop these feelings. I am in love with you.” The words came from his mouth as naturally as if they were his own, emotion filled each and every syllable until it seemed that he really had fallen in love with Sakura. He was a natural at acting, he hadn't even needed to glance at the script, proven even more by the fact that it was left abandoned on the table behind him.

Sakura, for her part, clenched the edges of her script, blushing slightly, though it was more for what she had to say than from what he had said to her. To speak these words to Yamazaki before she ever got the chance to speak them to Syaoran just seemed so impossibly cruel. “I... I...”

She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes, attempting to pretend that it was Syaoran kneeling before her confessing his love, rather than her friend's boyfriend, and tried again. “How I feel about you...”

* * *

Rehearsal had continued for seven gruelling hours, not including the lunch break in which Naoko had found it necessary to give pointers to everyone about every little detail. While the scenes had been done out of order to give different actors breaks, as the female lead there had been few that Sakura could sit out of completely. Between scenes in which they performed, the students helped in the production of props and stood still for Tomoyo to take their measurements for their costumes.

But with the day finally over, Sakura and Tomoyo were walking home together. “Oh, it's so hard! Being the princess for the first time makes me nervous!”

“It's all right,” Tomoyo insisted, “your acting is becoming more and more princess-like each day.”

“Oh, you think so?” Sakura asked.

“As one allowed to film each day's practice, I guarantee it!” the heiress assured.

“Then I guess it's okay...” Sakura consented.

“If you're really worried about it, I could teach you some of the things I learned in etiquette class,” Tomoyo offered.

“Oh please, no more practice. At least, not right now,” Sakura whined. “It's not so much that I'm worried about acting like a princess, I mean I want the play to be good, but... it's just that Yamazaki-kun is so natural at acting that I feel that if I'm not just as smooth as he is in the scene, then I'd be letting him down and ruining the play...”

“Oh, I'm sure everyone feels the same as far as Yamazaki-kun is concerned. He's just exceptionally good,” Tomoyo insisted.

Sakura paused as she noticed a new poster on the community pin-up board. “Hoe? Tomoeda Amusement Park...?”

“It was built on that hilltop, come to think of it,” Tomoyo commented.

“Yeah, over by where Eriol-kun used to live. I wonder if Eriol-kun is doing well?” the Card Mistress pondered.

“Would you like to drop by on the way back tomorrow?” Tomoyo asked.

Sakura only thought about it for a moment before smiling, “Yeah!”

* * *

The sun had set some time before, and Kero was already sleeping soundly within his drawer, but Sakura was still up in the room practising her script. She had needed someone to read the lines opposite herself, and so had summoned Mirror to do the job. However Mirror had proven to be a poor actor as far as mimicking the behaviours of those she had never met, such as Yamazaki, so instead Sakura chose to just have her play the role of one of the ladies in waiting and go over those scenes rather than the love scenes.

“As if my heart was not my own... I cannot fall in love with him. Yet I cannot stop my own heart. I cannot forget his kind smile. I want to see him. I want to see him and tell him how I truly feel,” she read aloud from the script as she sat on her bed next to Mirror. She tried to make the words flow naturally, as if they were her own, and put effort into adding a regal air to her tone as if she really was a princess of a kingdom. The more she read the lines, the easier it was for her to recall them, but she still found herself mixing up which sentence should come next.

“If that is how you feel, Mistress, then you must go to him at once, or else you may lose your chance and regret it for the rest of your life!” Mirror insisted from her position, sitting on the bed next to Sakura and reading over her shoulder.

“You're supposed to call me 'princess' for the lines in the play, not 'mistress',” Sakura corrected.

Mirror blinked, “Oh, I'm sorry!” she cried, blushing at the slip of her tongue, “It is just... the Mistress is the Mistress, so...”

Sakura shook her head, “It's alright, I understand,” she reassured.

Just as Sakura opened her mouth to read the next line, Kero started to mutter in his sleep, “I can still eat some more...”

Both girls looked at him in his drawer as he rolled over and fell out of his bed without even waking up. They exchanged glances for a moment before bursting into giggles at the Sun Guardian's expense. As they laid together, sprawled on their backs on Sakura's bed, the Card Mistress's smile slowly faded to one of nervous worry. “Ne, Mirror-san?”

“Yes, Mistress?” Mirror asked, turning her head so that she could look at Sakura's face.

“Do you think... it's really okay... for the girl to seek out the guy like that?” she asked.

“Why not? After all, he did tell her he was in love with her,” Mirror reasoned.

“But... but what if he hadn't. Would it still be okay? To travel all that way to another country in order to tell him her feelings?”

Mirror sat up and looked down at the one she was bound to with eyes far older than her young appearance. “Does the Mistress desire to seek out the Li Clan's heir as the princess in the story does her prince?”

To this, Sakura could only blush as she held the script tightly to her chest as if it could hide her heart behind it. Neither card nor girl noticed that as if by synchronization, the nameless card which sat atop Sakura's deck on her table began to glow with a golden light, as each was too busy focusing on each other and the conversation at hand.

* * *

She stood atop the tallest tower within all of Tomoeda, a clock tower stationed within the Tomoeda Amusement Park which had been made tall enough to be seen anywhere within the park grounds. As such, from this vantage point this little forgotten child could survey the whole of the city. From here, she would be able to watch that thief who stole her friends. From here, she would be able to extract her revenge.

* * *

It was dark. And not just the pseudo-dark of the night with the moon and the streetlamps giving off residual light, but true darkness that made her think for a moment that she had been captured once more in Dark's pocket reality. She could see herself standing there in some dress that she had never warn before, she assumed it was a battle costume designed by Tomoyo, and she could see all twenty of her cards hanging around her, encircling her in a comfortable bubble of familiarity.

They needed her, and she existed for the sake of fulfilling their need. No one called for her, but that was alright, because she was still needed by them. But slowly, one by one, each of the cards faded and finally vanished. And she was alone in this place, this dark and empty world, where fear and loneliness crept in upon her like some unknown predator that she could not escape.

“Card-san!!” she called out into the endless void of blackness, “Yue-san! Kero-chan?”

She looked around, she heard no answering call, sensed no presence beyond her own. “Light-san? Mirror-san? Jump? Fly? Windy?” Nothing. No response, no answering hum of power. She was alone, and they weren't going to come back for her.

“Don't cry,” she told herself, “Syaoran-kun always said very first thing: 'don't cry. Calm down and concentrate.' Concentrating isn't working, so... so I just have to think of something else.”

She looked around once more at the blackness, an overwhelming sensation of loneliness and despair overtook her. “They're not here. No one is here, I'm all alone...,” tears began to well at the corner of her eyes. “Iie, if they aren't here, then I'm just going to have to go look for them, I suppose.”

With that in mind, she began walking. She kept calling to them each by name, both with magic and with her voice, but it was no use. They were gone, and they would not heed her voice any longer. Finally, alone and abandoned, the Card Mistress fell to her knees in despair, “Why?! Why, Card-san, why?!? Why won't you answer my summons!?”

And then, just before she woke up, she heard a voice respond, “Because... you are not our Master anymore.”

* * *

It had been a long day of rehearsals today, especially for Sakura. She had put in so much practice with Mirror the night before, but that dream had haunted her all through the day. She knew while she was in it that it was most likely a vision, but still she hadn't been able to shake her need to run back and check that her cards were still there between each scene of the play.

This is why she had been looking forward to coming to the new amusement park with Tomoyo all day. Hopefully it would help to put her mind at ease and let her forget the troubling dream for a while. However, to their dismay, a sign stood outside the front gates of the park. “It's still closed? Didn't the poster say it would be open yesterday?”

“You're right,” Tomoyo agreed, looking sadly at the sign. Suddenly a flash of something hit Sakura's senses like an ice cube down the back of her shirt. She whirled around eyes wildly searching for the source of the disturbance, causing Tomoyo to become concerned. “Is something wrong?”

“I felt a presence...” she told the only school friend left who knew about her magic.

“A presence?” Tomoyo's hand instantly went into her bag to reach for her camera, a motion done as if by reflex alone as her face showed concern and worry rather than the starry eyes of her fan girl mode. 

A second, stronger flash of the presence allowed Sakura to pinpoint the source as straight ahead of them. Wait, straight ahead was... “Inside the amusement park?” Flashes of her vision the night before filled her head as the Card Mistress began to run towards the source. She didn't even hear Tomoyo call her name as her mind was filled with one scary and confusing truth.  _I know this presence...! This presence is..._

She rounded a corner and ran face-first into an employee. “Oi, kid! What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be here, the park isn't open yet!” the man scolded.

“I'm sorry, but I have to... I need to...,” Sakura desperately pleaded up at the man. But when the man didn't look like he was going to budge, she slumped her shoulders in defeat.

“Sakura-chan! Where did you... oh, there you are!” Tomoyo called, hurrying up to where Sakura stood before the man. “Ano... we're very sorry about barging in like this. We'll go now,” Tomoyo insisted, bowing to the man before escorting Sakura out of the park. 

It wasn't until they were a few blocks away from the park that Tomoyo spoke again, “So what was that about a presence, anyway?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I felt the presence of a Clow Card,” Sakura explained.

“Clow Card? But didn't you capture all of those already? I thought that was what the Final Judgement was all about...,” Tomoyo asked, confused. 

“I know, and what's weirder is that it was only there for a minute before disappearing...,” Sakura informed, shaking her head in defeat. 

“Maybe... you made a mistake? After all, it's been a long time since you last sensed a Clow Card,” Tomoyo suggested. At the disheartened noise Sakura responded with, Tomoyo suggested, “let’s talk to Kero-chan about this. He may know something that we don't.”

* * *

“I have dinner duty tonight,” Sakura informed as she climbed the front steps to her house, “would you like to stay over?”

“May I?” Tomoyo asked.

“Nn. I don't mind. Yukito-san is probably going to follow Onii-chan home from work again, too, so one extra person isn't too much effort. Does pasta sound alright?” the brunette enquired.

“I would love some pasta!” Tomoyo assured.

“Kay,” Sakura said with a smile, leading her friend inside. “I'll make some tea for you while you're waiting. Otou-san baked a cake, too, so you can have some with the tea.”

“Thank you,” Tomoyo replied, sitting down comfortably on the sofa in the living room. To pass the time while she was waiting, she pulled her sketch book from her bag and continued designing costumes for her classmates. 

For Sakura's, she had an image in mind already, and she knew the prince had to have something worthy of standing in the spotlight alongside her precious cousin. The extras were easy enough to design for, all she had to do was pull them out of books. Naoko didn't have an acting part, as she was the director and playwright, but Rika and Chiharu would be on stage a lot and needed designs that not only suited their position as Sakura's support, but also their individual characters.

As it stood, she had a rough sketch of the general shape and design to each of their dresses, but the fine details were yet to be worked out, which is what she was attempting at the moment to complete. Her work was interrupted when Sakura came back in a minute later with the tea tray. “Sorry to keep you waiting. What's that you’ve got there?”

“It's fine,” Tomoyo responded politely, “this is just my costume sketch book. I'm trying to finish the designs for Rika-chan and Chiharu-chan's dresses.”

“Oh, can I see?” Sakura asked, placing down the tea tray. 

“Certainly,” Tomoyo responded, handing over the book. “You take one sugar in your tea, right?”

“It's okay, I'll take care of it!” Sakura insisted to her friend.

“It's alright, I like being able to help out like this. I'm never allowed to serve other people at home,” Tomoyo explained, “let me take care of you. It really is what I want to do.”

“Well, I suppose...” Sakura consented. She turned her attention to the book she was holding instead and flipped through a few pages of sketches. “I like the neckline on this one for Rika-chan, it looks very lady-like and would suit her mature appearance nicely.”

“Yes, but it doesn't really suit Chiharu-chan,”

“Do they need to have the same cut?”

“I suppose not, but--”

“I smell cake!” Kero interrupted as he burst into the living room. 

“K-Kero-chan!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Were you trying to eat cake and keep it a secret?” he accused his Mistress. 

“I-it wasn't a secret!” Sakura insisted nervously.

“You didn't call me!” Kero reprimanded. 

“We were just about to,” Tomoyo interjected, “there was something strange today that we needed to talk to you about.”

“Eh? Something strange? Like what?” Kero asked, floating down to stand on the table where he looked between the two plates of cake. “If you weren't keeping it a secret, why are their only two servings here?” he demanded.

“I-I need to go start dinner, you keep Tomoyo-chan company and talk to her while I do!” and with that, Sakura scurried back out of the room.

Kero landed once more and began critically inspecting the pieces of cake. “So what was it you wanted to ask, anyway?”

Taking her cue from the Sun Guardian, Tomoyo began telling her tale. “Well, on the way home today, Sakura-chan said she felt a magical presence at the amusement park.”

“Uhuh...” Kero muttered, only half listening. “Right, this is the bigger one!” he announced, taking one of the pieces of cake and sitting down to start eating.

“The strange part was that she said that it was the presence of a Clow Card. Do you know what that may be about?” she asked, choosing to politely ignore Kero's greedy behaviour towards the guest.

“A Clow Card...?” Kero asked, suddenly becoming serious, “That shouldn't be possible.”

“I know, there were only 19, weren't there? So then what was Sakura-chan feeling?” Tomoyo questioned. “She even said it went away so she couldn't feel it any more after a few minutes.”

“That is strange. I couldn't say what she felt as I wasn't there and didn't feel anything from her room. But one thing is for sure: if it has the power to hide it's presence like that, then it's powerful enough to be trouble.”

Tomoyo looked at Kero with sparkling eyes and clasped her hands beneath her chin, “You mean... the continued adventures of Sakura-chan as a beautiful and charming magical girl?”

“That's right! More amazing action shots of yours truly saving the day!” Kero cheered.

“A whole new season, with a whole new enemy, and all new costumes! And I'll be there to film it all...”

And Sakura, who was watching them from the door to the dining room, could only laugh nervously and quietly say, “Hoe...”

* * *

Dinner had been comfortable enough with Kero and Tomoyo off on their thread about her supposed “third season”, whatever that was supposed to mean. As predicted, Yukito had followed Touya home, and after Yue had been called out and informed of what was going on, had insisted that they take the situation more seriously and actually investigate the disturbance. Which was what lead to Sakura, her Guardians, and Tomoyo and Touya standing at the gate of the amusement park after darkness had fallen.

“I'm not feeling anything,” Cerberus insisted. 

“Neither am I. Where did you say the presence originated from?” Yue asked.

“Straight ahead somewhere, I didn't really have time to find out exactly before it disappeared,” Sakura explained. 

“Straight ahead would be in line with that clock tower,” Touya pointed out.

“If we search the area, we may be able to locate residual traces of the magic which would let us know what it is we're dealing with,” Yue explained.

With no other leads at the moment, Sakura and her Guardians began a thorough combing of the area that Sakura had indicated, yet after two whole hours of searching they still didn't turn up any clues. Finally, it was Touya who insisted they call it a night, “It's well past Sakura's bedtime,” he insisted to Yue, who was less than keen about the idea of leaving an unknown potential enemy loose in his Mistress's town, “and Daidouji-chan needs to get home, too. I'm sure her mother is worried about her.”

“But we still are as empty handed as when we started,” Yue argued, cold eyes burning holes into Touya.

“Gomen ne, Yue-san. I didn't mean to waste everyone's time like this...,” Sakura insisted.

The change was instantaneous as Yue turned and knelt before his Mistress. Taking her hands in his, his face became gentle as it was for no one else. “It's not your fault,” Yue insisted, “your orders, Mistress?”

Sakura looked to her brother and friend briefly before turning back to her devoted Guardian. “It's okay, Yue-san. They didn't do anything this afternoon when I felt them initially, so I doubt they are an immediate threat. We'll just have to keep our eyes open, that's all.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

* * *

She sat within her clock tower, inside the bubble that stole away all traces of her existence and kept her separated from the rest of the world. She sat there and remembered the thief who had come twice now to search her out. The determined sense of Master's Moon Guardian on the hunt for an enemy, taking orders like all the others from this little thief. That was enough to know that the thief intended to fight over what had been stolen, rather than return them peacefully as one who had made an honest mistake would do.

That left only one option: this forgotten child would just have to take it all back by force.

And within the Kinomoto residence, a card answered her call to come home.

* * *

The sun was bright and warm once again, and while the search from the previous night had kept Sakura from getting quite enough sleep, at least no dreams had plagued her. She opened the door to her classroom, 5-2, to find it already full of students. “Ohayo! Sorry, am I late again?”

“You made it just in time,” Chiharu told her with a grin.

“I'm glad,” Sakura admitted as she piled her bag and hat over with everyone else's.

To the side, Tomoyo was talking to Naoko, “I really like this design, but to use that theme we would need another two ladies in waiting...”

“Hmm... I see what you mean. But the only way to do it without completely re-writing large sections would be to cut the lines of the other two ladies in waiting and work it in that way...,” Naoko pondered.

“There's less than a week, though. Do you think it would be okay?”Tomoyo asked.

“Ne, Rika-chan, Chiharu-chan, would you mind if I cut a few of your lines and gave them to some new characters?” Naoko asked.

“No, it's fine with me,” Rika replied.

“I don't mind, either. Less for me to have to remember!” Chiharu agreed.

“Alright. Sakura-chan, Yamazaki-kun, you two start going through your scenes. Pick ones you're having trouble with and work through them. I'm going to see if I can't write in these new characters,” Naoko announced, taking her script and red pen and getting to work over in the corner. 

They worked like that for a little over an hour before Naoko announced that she wanted the girls who didn't have parts yet to try reading through a handful of lines each. After she had seen them all and made her choice, the rest of the day was dedicated to playing the scenes that involved them so everyone knew how to work the new characters in. The girls chosen for the parts were the tomboyish Tachibana Rei and the quiet Sato Hikari, and while each only had about a dozen lines throughout the whole of the play, they would be needed on stage for a good number of scenes as Sakura's personal attendants.

“We should keep working on our lines,” Chiharu announced as she was packing up to go home along with everyone else. “Make sure we know our cues and don't mess any of them up, right Rika-chan?”

“Shall we go somewhere and work on them, then?” Rika asked.

“Definitely. Sato-san and Tachibana-san, too,” Chiharu insisted.

“But where would we go?” Tachibana asked.

“If you like, I found a nice little cafe the other day that sells wonderful juice,” Sakura piped into their conversation.

“That works for me,” Chiharu agreed.

“May I come along as well?” Tomoyo asked.

“Certainly,” Rika insisted, “Naoko-chan, will you be joining us as well?” 

“Hmm? No, it's okay, I'm going to go home and type up the changes to the script so that everyone has their lines,” Naoko informed them.

“Alright, see you tomorrow!” the girls called as the six of them turned and started following Sakura.

They walked for a little ways in silence before conversation struck up once more. “I can't wait for this play to begin,” Tachibana announced as they walked together along the sidewalk.

“I can,” Sakura insisted, “the idea of having to act in front of so many people makes me nervous!”

“But Sakura-chan, you're the princess! You can't be nervous!” Chiharu scolded, half-jokingly.

“But then again, the princess is kind of dense...,” Tachibana pointed out.

“Hoe?”

“Tachibana-san, you aren't talking about our Sakura-chan, are you?” Rika asked.

“No, no. I mean the real princess. From the story. And call me Rei, it makes me feel left out with you all using first names and then calling me by my family name.”

“Sato-san, too, then?” Sakura asked the black haired girl.

“Well, I-I suppose...” she agreed while blushing shyly.

“But anyway, back to the point: she was actually asked out! She should reply right away, on the spot,” Rei insisted.

“You need to consider timing and environment,” Chiharu insisted.

“Of course,” Rei agreed, “but he'd want a reply soon, right?”

“Y-yeah...” Sakura agreed, her cheeks turning pink at the thought of the dreaded love confession scene.

“It's quite a task, but a girl must have some courage!” Rei continued to insist, “Ugh, so hot. How much farther to the cafe?”

“Not far, we should go up this hill and turn at the mailbox,” Sakura instructed, before running on ahead.

“Hey, wait, Sakura-chan!” Chiharu called after her as the other five girls had no choice but to run as well.

When Sakura got to the intersection she desired, however, she found no mailbox to be seen. “Hoe?”

“Jeez, it's hot out! Don't run like that!” Chiharu scolded as she caught up, panting and sweating a little due to exerting herself in the heat.

“Is something the matter?” Tomoyo asked, noticing how Sakura was looking around.

“Isn't there a mailbox somewhere around here?” the Card Mistress asked the others in confusion.

“I don't know, I don't usually travel along this road,” Tomoyo admitted.

“Maybe they took it away?” Hikari suggested.

“Maybe...” Sakura consented.

“This is the way, right?” Rika asked, pointing down the street that Sakura had stopped by.

“Y-yeah,” Sakura confirmed uneasily.

“It's hot, so let's hurry,” Rei insisted, before leading everyone into a light jog towards the indicated direction.

Unnoticed by the six preteen girls was the remaining stump close to the ground where a mailbox had once stood. The clean cut had a vaguely spherical shape to it as if a sweeping blade had sliced the surface taking the mailbox clean off without leaving any trace behind that it had ever been there to begin with.

* * *

They had stayed for quite some time at the little cafe that afternoon. At first they had been good and worked on their lines like they had said they would, but eventually they had stopped and started to get to know each other as neither Rei nor Hikari hung out with them at all. Finally, the girls decided to part ways and Sakura made it home just as dusk was falling over the town.

Within her room, Kero was playing one of the demo games that Tomoyo had given him on her game system. “Tadaima!” Sakura greeted as she came in.

“Okaeri,” Kero responded without even looking over his shoulder at her.

“You've been playing games all day again?” Sakura accused as she put her bag and hat down on her desk. 

Kero didn't answer at first, only continued playing, until a moment later the game announced the end of the race with a cry of “Goal!”

Kero began jumping around cheering at his victory, “Yeah! First place! A course record! Yay! Hooray, hooray! I'll show him with this one!” he cried, before coming over to Sakura. “Hey, Sakura, you going to write a letter to Eriol in England?”

“A letter?” she quoted.

“Yeah!” Kero insisted, remaining excited.

“That's true. I can ask him about what happened at the amusement park yesterday,” the Card Mistress realized. 

“Then can you send my letter, too? I wanna tell Suppi about my record time!” Kero begged.

“Suppi...” Sakura tested the unfamiliar name, “you mean Spinel-san?”

“Yeah!”

This fact brought a smile to Sakura's face. “You really get along well with Eriol-kun's black cat!”

“No, no, we don't get along...” Kero denied, “We're rivals!”

Sakura only gave him a blank look as he demonstrated his fiery passion and determination. “Hoe?”

“That damn Suppi! This time I'm going to win!” Kero insisted, throwing shadow-boxing punches mid-air and posing to show off the muscles that were simply non-existent in his sealed form. “You can't beat the record I got oh so easily!”

And so, a few hours later, after she had eaten dinner and spent more time working on her lines, Sakura laid up in bed writing to her father's other half all the way over in London, England. Beside her, on her pillow, Kero slept curled around his own bragging letter to his supposed rival, mumbling in his sleep every now and then about one thing or another involving his dark counterpart, and occasionally, Yue as well. Whenever he would, she would smile down at him affectionately and occasionally reach over and rub the fuzz that covered his head.

_Eriol-kun,_

_How are you doing? It's a very hot every day over here. As I wrote in my last letter, I'm busy every day preparing for the Nadeshiko Festival. About my role in the play, you were right. I ended up with the role of the princess. Somehow, I'm very nervous about it. I hope I can perform well._

_Today I made two new friends. Some of the girls who were in our class have been made handmaidens in the play and we spent time after practice getting to know each other. Their names are Tachibana Rei-chan and Sato Hikari-chan. We got along alright; I hope we can go on being friends in the upcoming term as well._

_That's right; they're getting ready to open an amusement park over by where your house used to be. But something really strange happened when Tomoyo-chan and I went to check it out yesterday. I know that it sounds very strange, but I thought I felt the presence of a Clow Card. That shouldn't be because I already captured and changed all the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. Do you know what might be going on?_

_On other news, I got a letter from Syaoran-kun, apparently things are going well in Hong Kong. Maybe I'll be able to see him again soon._

Sakura reached over to her deck that was laying on her nightstand and lifted her nameless card from it. “Syaoran-kun...” she murmured as she looked longingly at the card. Her eyes grew heavy and she laid her head down, only for a minute, and never lifted it off her pillow again as she slept through another card dashing away from her deck.

* * *

The rest of the week whizzed by in a blur of rehearsals and preparation. Details were hammered out in their acting, and Sakura perfected her lines with much help from Mirror and Tomoyo. The costumes were completed, the stage props were constructed, and all that was left was the performance scheduled for the following night. Having perfected her acting as much as possible, she and Tomoyo decided to take the afternoon off for once.

Kero, having heard their plan the night before to go for sweets together after practice, had stowed away in her bag that morning and hadn't been discovered until she had been outside of her school building when it was much too late to return him. So now he was being carried in Tomoyo's handbag as her and Sakura walked along the street.

“I wonder what this new enemy will be after,” Tomoyo mused. “And what upgrades Sakura-chan will get to combat them?”

“Upgrades? What is there to upgrade beyond what she has right now? The Sakura Cards, and not to mention being partnered with the most awesome Sun Guardian ever to exist!” Kero argued.

“It's a new season, there are always upgrades in new seasons,” Tomoyo reasoned. 

“Has to be? Like a law or something? Huh, well if that's the case, maybe Sakura'll get an upgrade for Yue...” Kero mused. 

“Or she could get a special new wand, or maybe new cards, or maybe that card that Sakura-chan made will have some super awesome special ability!” Tomoyo gushed. “Oh, I can't wait!”

Sakura walked along behind her friend and Guardian, quite accustomed to being talked about like this by them, though still blushing slightly at their topic. “Well, if it's about that card, first Sakura will have to call out its name before she can use it.”

“But what should she call? It doesn't have anything written where the name goes,” Tomoyo reminded.

“That's why she needs to name it,” Kero reasoned.

“I can't!” Sakura suddenly announced, “How can I name it when I don't have any idea what it does?!”

“You're its creator, it's your job to define it,” the Sun Guardian insisted.

“The other cards, they let themselves out and that's how I learned what they did. Can't this card just do the same?” Sakura pleaded hopelessly.

“It won't work. You already wrote your name on it. A card that's been claimed won't unseal itself...” Kero informed.

“Then it's hopeless...” Sakura insisted, tears of frustration building up in the corner of her eyes. Suddenly something large, orange, and yellow swished through her view of Tomoyo and Kero. “HOE!?!”

All three turned to look quickly at the thing intruding on their conversation to see a giant winged rabbit holding a huge flower. “USHAGI?!?” Kero cried out in surprise.

Then a voice, all too familiar, floated up from the alley the thing had just come out of. “Don't do that, To-ya!”

“Hoe? Yukito-san?” Sakura asked in confusion as the man himself stepped out to the thing's side. The giant rabbit then proceeded to pull its own head off, revealing that it was a suit with none other than Kinomoto Touya standing inside of it. “Onii-chan! You surprised me!”

“Because you were standing there dazed and looking stupid,” Touya reasoned, earning a glare in response. 

“Gomen, Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan, Kero-chan, To-ya and me were just getting off our shift, we were going to go to the new amusement park after work, would you like to come?” Yukito offered the trio. 

“Really? Yay!” Sakura cheered.

“We should get changed out of our school uniforms first,” Tomoyo stated.

“Alright, then we'll meet at the parlour for ice cream first! I'm starving!” Yukito suggested.

“Ice cream? Yahoo!” Kero cheered, throwing his little paws up into the air in celebration.

“Right! If Yukito-san is hungry, then we best hurry home and change quickly! See you soon!” Sakura stated as they started down the street towards their homes.

“Alright, see you soon!” Yukito called after them with a smile and a wave.

“Oi, what's the idea inviting the Kaijuu and her friends?” Touya sulked, pouting and glaring at his best friend and boyfriend.

“Oh have patience, To-ya!” Yukito scolded, “It's only for the day, and besides, you were being rude to them.”

* * *

The two young girls hurried through the park towards their homes in order to not make the men treating them wait too long. Tomoyo clung her handbag to her chest as she ran because Kero made such a fuss about how Sakura always swings him around until he's dizzy. Though it was hot out, they had the exuberant energy of children still and so a little mid-day run wasn't in danger of wiping them out.

It was mid-step that she felt it. Something was wrong, something with her cards was terribly wrong. “Hoe?” She stopped running and slipped her bag from her shoulder, looking inside. Her deck was alight, glowing a beautiful soft blue, save for her one nameless card that radiated a bold golden light.

“What's wrong?” Tomoyo asked, noticing that Sakura had stopped.

“The cards, they're acting funny...” Sakura informed.

Kero lifted himself from Tomoyo's handbag and flew over to peer in the bag as well. “What is it?”

“Hoe? Where is Erase-san and Glow-san?” Sakura demanded as she physically reached in and pulled her deck out to flip through the cards one by one and ensure that yes, indeed, they were missing.

This observation caused Kero to absolutely flip. “WHAT!?”

Before Sakura could reply, however, Tomoyo's voice reached the pair in a startled cry that got both hurrying over to her side. What Sakura found there was not Tomoyo in trouble like she had feared, but rather, “The bridge... is gone...?”

Clean cut, like some curved blade had sliced it away, the bridge was indeed missing. “Could it be under construction?” Kero suggested.

“But there were no signs warning us about this...” Tomoyo reasoned.

“Then why?” Kero's hanging question was one for which no answer was available.

* * *

Some time later, after the girls had finally made it to the parlour, they sat around an outdoor table, removed from the others, and talked. “What? The bridge was missing?” Yukito asked in surprise.

“Yeah, the caretaker of the park came by and was really surprised!” Sakura recounted the tale.

“My, what a strange thing to have happen...” Yukito pondered in a bemused tone of voice.

“That English gaki's not here any more, and all the Clow Cards have been turned into Sakura Cards. That leaves only that strange presence you felt before at the amusement park as the cause...” Touya reasoned out.

“You're right about that, but...” Sakura agreed.

“What is it, Sakura-chan?” Yukito prompted.

“Well, Kero-chan stayed home to look and make sure, but... I could have sworn I had them all this morning! But when I felt something strange and went to look in my bag on the way home, Glow-san and Erase-san were missing...” the Card Mistress confessed.

“What?!” Touya demanded incredulously.

“That is troubling...” Yukito, and more so Yue within him, fretted. “Anyway, in case something does happen, you should keep the Sakura Cards with you at all times, and your cell phone too. If anything comes up, I want you to call me, no matter what time, and Yue will be there shortly, alright?”

Sakura nodded obediently, “Yes.”

“Anyway, there's no point in worrying over it further at the moment. Shall we get going?” Touya questioned. Getting a round of confirmations from the other three present, they all gathered their things and headed out.

* * *

The Tomoeda Amusement Park, now that it was properly open to the public, was bustling with activity. Parents escorting children, lovers attending dates, and friends just looking for somewhere to hang out filled the walkways and the rides, lineups at more popular rides and at food stands, and every single one of them smiling. In the background, the clock tower chimed its afternoon bells across the grounds in clear tones.

Clasping hands, the young girls ran forward into the excitement with the giggles of innocent youth. The main attraction at the entrance was the whale shaped fountain around which was situated a number of colourfully painted buildings and pavilions. With excited eyes, the two preteens scanned the visible rides in order to decide what they wanted to go on first. It didn't take long for one ride, snaking in and out of view, to become appealing to the young Card Mistress.

“Onii-chan! Yukito-san! I want to ride the roller coaster!” Sakura insisted, pointing at the ride in the distance. 

Touya groaned and rolled his eyes, but Yukito smiled and said “Sure, that sounds like fun!”

The lineup was long, as the roller coaster was one of the more popular attractions at the park. Touya wouldn't stop complaining about what a waste it was to stand in line for twenty minutes just to go on a five minute ride. Yukito would just laugh at him about this and insist something along the lines of anticipation and excitement increasing the enjoyment once the moment was at hand. This would manage to shut Touya up for a few minutes before he would start in again. Neither girl really understood what it was Yukito was saying, but they supposed Touya would quiet down because his boyfriend was telling him to.

Though the ride was short, it was also exhilarating. The wind rushing past at such speeds was something that Yukito had only ever achieved within his faintest dreams. The feeling of the endless open sky, of a freedom his imprisoned heart could only dream of. As the ride came to an end and the rushing wind in his short grey hair died away, the Moon Guardian turned his attention to the young man sitting next to him and he had to choke back on a laugh.

Beside him, Touya's eyes spun dizzily, indicating the reason he had been so against the ride in the first place. Yukito's amusement of the situation only increased when he got out and found his Mistress in a similar state. “Ah, here...” Yukito said, as he stepped under Touya's arm to hold him steady. “Do you mind helping Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan?”

“Not at all!” Tomoyo responded, taking Sakura's arm and leading her after Yukito. They sat the siblings down on a bench not far away where they could rest until their worlds stopped spinning. “Like brother, like sister...” Tomoyo mused lovingly as she watched Sakura.

“Indeed,” Yukito agreed, giving a similar look to Touya, “I'm going to get them something to make them feel better. You wait here, alright?”

“Okay,” Tomoyo responded with a nod. 

Yukito wandered off in the direction of the nearest food stand, causing Tomoyo to chuckle once more. By the time he returned a few minutes later, Sakura was up and bouncing around happily with Tomoyo while Touya was sitting looking a little groggy still. When he spotted the tray piled with food and four drinks, he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“Food is your answer to everything,” Touya accused.

“Well, not everything,” Yukito responded cryptically, “I just thought a little food would make you feel better!”

“You mean you figured I'd refuse it so that you could eat it all,” Touya corrected.

“Onii-chan!” Sakura interjected on Yukito's behalf, “don't go picking on Yukito-san! You'll hurt his feelings and make him cry!” 

Touya began grumbling about his little sister while Yukito, having inhaled much of the food already, decided now would be a good time to change the subject. “Shall we be going to the next ride soon? Something gentler this time for To-ya's sake.”

“Let's go on the merry-go-round!” Sakura suggested.

“The horses are so pretty!” Tomoyo agreed.

Smiling at the one whom he could never deny anything, Yukito gave a nod. “Alright, merry-go-round it is.” Standing up with the tray of food, each of the girls and Touya only having soft drinks, they began walking towards the next selected ride. Looking out of the corner of his eye at Touya, Yukito smiled shyly and suggested, “You know, if you're still feeling dizzy you could use my shoulders to steady yourself...”

Touya's cheeks reddened at the suggestion and quickly turned away. “I'm fine.”

The line to the merry-go-round was much shorter than the roller coaster had been, filled mainly by adults who were accompanying children. Most children were sent on by themselves while parents stood on the sidelines and watched; however, when Touya attempted to do the same, Sakura began making a dreadful fuss.

“You come on too! I want to ride the merry-go-round with Yukito-san!” she insisted. 

“No. It's a kiddie ride,” Touya argued back. 

“Yukito-san! You want to come on, don't you?” Sakura pleaded.

Yukito smiled at both the girls before turning his grin onto his boyfriend, “Oh, come on To-ya. What's the harm in humouring your little sister once and a while?” then his grin turned taunting and teasing, a look that only Touya could extract from the usually sweet golden-eyed boy. “Don't you want to ride the pretty pony?” he asked, batting his eyelashes.

Touya glowered at the snarky comment, but let himself be pulled on by his teasing boyfriend anyway. The girls examined each horse as if checking thoroughbred race horses before placing a bid, but eventually settled for a pair of white ones decked out in flowers and bejewelled saddles. Under the pretence of keeping a close eye on the children, Yukito drug Touya to sit with him in an ornate carriage. As the girls laughed and played, urging their horses onward and making a fast game of how they were taking the carriage to a ball, Touya fought the blush that Yukito was enjoying all too much. He didn't know what it was about flustering him that Yukito adored so much, but every uncomfortable squirm or reddened cheek seemed to amuse his partner immensely.

After the merry-go-round, they rode the water slides, then the bumper cars before Yukito wanted to stop for food again. While he was eating, Sakura and Tomoyo went to watch the face painting and balloon shaping. “Onii-chan!” Sakura came running back over with a determined face, “We want balloon hats!”

“I am not paying for something that stupid,” Touya countered in a monotone. 

“But Onii-chan...!” Sakura began to counter, when she realized she really had nothing on her brother this time to counter with. 

“I'll get some,” Yukito offered, nipping the argument in the bud.

“Wai! Wai!” Sakura cheered, jumping up and down before running back over to the stall. 

Sakura had blue cat ears and Tomoyo a big pink butterfly when the three came back, a suspicious smile gracing Yukito's lips once more. Touya sighed. “What did you do this time?”

Before he could react, Touya saw Yukito whip out something green from behind his back and plop it securely on Touya's head. Further, he pulled out a pair of orange bunny ears and set them on his own head. Dreading what he would find, Touya pulled the offending item from his hair and looked at it. “A crown?”

“Yep!” Yukito said, returning to his place beside Touya on the bench once more. “Seeing as Sakura-chan is a princess in her play, I figured it would be fitting.” Touya rolled his eyes at Yukito's sense of humour and went to toss the offending piece of air-filled rubber aside. “No...!” Yukito whined at him, leaning across to grab the crown once more, “don't throw it away! I bought it for you...”

“Fine, fine...” Touya replied in defeat, knowing when an issue was a hopeless cause and put the crown reluctantly back on his head. “You know those girls are a bad influence on you. They feed you way too many ideas.”

Yukito smiled a grin that indicated some hidden joke that only he could understand. Touya wearily eyed his friend, but didn't have to take long before the Moon Guardian cracked and started talking. “So, with Sakura-chan being a princess, what does that make To-ya?” he mused.

Touya just gave him a pointed look as he had no intention of playing along.

“Would you be a prince? You don't make a very charming one, especially not with that face, but Sakura-chan did say that she was taking us to a ball...”

Touya gave a smirk and rolled his eyes at Yukito's determination to play with him.

“Or if not a prince, maybe it would be a king?” he continued to muse to himself, “A grand and brave king, with a heart of hidden gold and a continence to command millions...”

“And where, pray tell, would you find these millions to be under my command?” Touya challenged, but despite his tone, his hard face had started to melt under Yukito's praise. He tried not to show how much he was enjoying the adoring eyes that scanned his face with a quiet sort of hunger buried deep within them. 

“Oh, I don't know. Some far off place, an exotic land where a castle sits overlooking its subjects. In a grand hall lined with silken drapes of the deepest of blues to match To-ya-sama's eyes and a thick rug of a rich crimson adorning the floor. In a bejewelled throne with a blue satin seat sits To-ya-sama in his magnificent regal robes, so proud and powerful that none could question his absolute authority.”

“Oh? Why somewhere far away?” Touya pestered.

“Because, then it doesn't matter that they adore you. You're still all mine here,” Yukito informed him sagely.

“So you intend to send me away to that 'far off' and 'exotic' place all by myself, do you? And where will you be while I'm on this trip of mine?” 

“Why, with you, of course. The humble and devoted servant of his majesty, kneeling at To-ya-sama's feet, eagerly awaiting orders to do whatever his majesty desires of me...” Yukito leaned in close, his eyes falling half shut, and said just above a whisper, “how shall I serve you, To-ya-sama?”

“Yuuukiii... Not in front of Sakura...” Touya scolded him, looking over Yukito's shoulder to where Tomoyo and Sakura had gotten up to play tag in the square. 

Fighting down a blush at what Yukito's vivid scenario looked like, played out in his mind's eye, Touya couldn't make up his mind if such a scene was appealing to him or not. On the one hand, there was something definitely thrilling about the idea of Yukito kneeling before him like that, while on the other, it rang too loudly of Yue and his slave-bound relationship with Sakura. It worried him a little that Yukito may think he needed to enslave himself to the will of another like that in order to be loved.

After all, it wasn't love unless both sides desired and respected each other.

“Alright, alright!” Yukito laughed, pulling Touya to his feet and starting to walk towards the part of the park they hadn't yet visited, the girls automatically following suit. “Let’s find the next ride.”

They rode the wave swinger, and the teacups, the music express, the octopus, and the pirate ship as well before Sakura and Tomoyo began whispering conspiratorially between themselves.

“Alright, Kaijuu, what are you rug rats planning now?” Touya called forward to them.

“Oh, we're just deciding which ride we want to go on next...” Sakura replied a little too innocently. Touya raised an eyebrow. Realizing her act had failed, Sakura turned and took two bold steps forward, taking a deep breath, she pointed at a ride up ahead. “I want to go on THAT one!”

“The Ferris wheel?” Touya double checked, flushing slightly at the unspoken implications. 

“Right!” Sakura cheered, turning back to them with a sugary smile. “Tomoyo-chan and I have things to discuss in private—girl things, you know—so Onii-chan and Yukito-san will have to ride alone together.”

Touya tried a few times to open his mouth in protest, but couldn't seem to find his voice to do so. Honestly, part of him wanted to ride the Ferris wheel with his boyfriend, like normal couples do, but he was still nervous about it. It wasn't his own self that concerned him, people could say whatever they felt like about him and he didn't care, but Yukito was already so sensitive about his humanity that the last thing he wanted was to cause his boyfriend distress simply by being with him.

And so it was that the four marched onwards to the Ferris wheel. The attendant looked sympathetic when the girls made such a fuss on how they had to ride the car alone together and the boys had to ride in the next car together as well. He let them have their way and before Touya knew it, he was sitting opposite the Moon Guardian in the rising car.

It took the mischievous Yukito no more than a minute to announce, “We're not in front of Sakura-chan, now...”

“She's only in the next car over. She could still see...” Touya insisted, shifting uneasily.

“You have such a sister complex,” Yukito told him in a dead-pan. “What's wrong? She knows about us, she's okay with us. So why do we have to hide, even in front of Sakura-chan and Tomoyo-chan?” the Moon Guardian pressed. “Did you change your mind about being with me, or something?”

“Don't think that! Don't ever think that. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Touya insisted, “it's just...”

“Just what?” Yukito forced, leaning over to prevent Touya from breaking eye contact and ending the conversation.

Touya opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it with a heavy sigh as he put his thoughts in order so as not to hurt his beautiful friend. When he had figured out what he wanted to say and how, he opened his mouth once again. “She's my baby sister... For so many years, ever since mom died and dad had to step up how much he was working to make ends meet, it was left up to me to take care of Sakura. I know she's getting older and all, but I've spent so long looking out for her that it's hard to stop now that she doesn't need it any more.

“And she looks up to me, follows me around and tries to copy things I do. I don't want to be a bad role model for her by having her try to copy me doing things she's not ready for just yet. I love you. Don't doubt that I love you, but as long as she needs me I can't just stop being her big brother, you know?”

Touya's eyes were so pleading with Yukito for understanding that he couldn't even bring himself to make a jibe at Touya about his sibling relationship and who really needed whom the most. So instead he just smiled adoringly at his beloved and came to sit beside the dark haired man. “I'm so lucky...” he finally bragged, “My boyfriend is the sweetest, most secretly caring annoying big brother in the universe.”

“Yuki...” Touya warned, catching the playful hint to his friend's words even through the admiration and love that resounded throughout.

Putting on his best innocent face, Yukito turned to face his boyfriend and asked, “When we're above them, they can't see us, right? So  then can I be as naughty as I please?”

Touya rolled his eyes in exasperation, “I don't think the ride  lasts long enough for that. But sure, we can be a  little naughty once we're above them.” Yukito sniggered now that Touya was playing back, and settled for resting his head against Touya's shoulder and waiting for the ride to move around so they could have a few moments of greater intimacy before returning to proper public behaviour. 

* * *

In the next compartment over, Sakura and Tomoyo spied on the couple, cooing at the success of their mission. “Awa, they're cuddling together! That's so sweet...!” Tomoyo gushed.

Turning around to sit down proper, now that their plan had come to fruition, Sakura nodded in agreement. “I know, I'm really happy for Yukito-san! He's with the one he loves, and that person loves him back, even if that person  is Onii-chan.”

“Really, Sakura-chan, is it so hard for you to see Touya-san's good sides?” Tomoyo asked, returning to her seat across the way and training her camera back on her bouncing cousin once more. 

“No, Onii-chan is really great, even if he does get on my nerves some times. It's just Yukito-san is so wonderful; he could have absolutely anyone he wants. It's just the person he wants is his best friend, Onii-chan, and I don't really get it. It would be like me and you falling in love...”

Tomoyo smiled a sad little smile at this, “Yes, the heart is a mysterious thing. Why do people fall in love with who they do? Why do people chase hopeless dreams? Who can really say what the answer to that is? Sometimes the only answer to be had is that it just is.”

“You're so deep, Tomoyo-chan. You and Rika-chan... I don't think I'll ever be as grown up as you two,” Sakura complimented.

Tomoyo nodded in acknowledgement and thanks, but before she had managed to get anything out, Sakura had jumped to her feet and was staring off into the distance. “What is it?” Tomoyo asked.

“This presence...” Sakura murmured before out of her pocket zoomed a card in a flash of light. Straight through the door, it dashed away from them of its own accord. Sakura pressed herself against the door of the compartment, calling out after it in a horrified tone without thinking. “Maze-san!”

Agonizing minutes passed as tears of fear and desperation threatened to drown Sakura as she was held captive here away from her dear friend. Finally the door to the car opened and Sakura was off with all the speed her small legs could muster. She knew without looking that Yue, still barely maintaining his human disguise, and their two non-magical companions were right behind her, following as quickly as they could.

Running right into the rope barring the way to the still closed House of Mirrors, Sakura took only a moment to lift the rope up so that her and Tomoyo could dart beneath it. Not thirty seconds later, Yukito and Touya vaulted over the same rope and came up to where Sakura was standing at the first fork, attempting to guess which path would take her to the source of the feeling the fastest.  _This presence... it can't be..._

“I feel the presence from here...” Yukito informed, or rather Yue making use of Yukito's body.

Sakura examined the direction that Yue had indicated before nodding, “Yeah, let’s go.”

With the two magical beings leading the way, Yue in his true form and Sakura with her staff held aloft, the quartet made their way slowly through the hallways, running into dead ends and having to backtrack from time to time. The location was playing havoc with their senses, surely a ploy planned out by their attacker.

As they came to another bend in the mirrored maze, Sakura turned her attention momentarily to the silver haired angel. “Yue-san, this feeling really is...”

“Yes, there is no doubt about it. This is Clow's presence,” Yue confirmed stiffly, as if the very confirmation brought him great pain and effort.

“Damn it, what's that bastard's intention, playing with us like this... I thought he went back to England!” Touya exploded, as much for the trouble Sakura has to deal with as the pain that Yue—and Yukito by extension—would undergo in having to face his old Master once more on the battlefield.

“I don't understand!” Sakura exclaimed, starting to feel overwhelmed by it all.

“Could Hiiragizawa-kun be the one who took the cards?” Tomoyo suggested reasonably.

“No, if Clow had wanted the cards for himself, he would have called them to him when he came to Japan,” Yue reasoned, agitated at the situation he simply could not understand. “Why go through the trouble of finding a new Mistress, and even teaching her to wrestle control away from himself, in order to merely take them away again?”

Without warning, or any obvious prompting to her companions, Sakura suddenly started with a small gasp, spinning off towards a direction they hadn't tried yet. “That's...” was all she got out, before she began running towards the image reflected in the mirror ahead.

A girl, no older in appearance than Sakura herself, with long hair that fell in waves down to the floor. Her dress was made of pale, washed out blue silk and lace, with a white overcoat on above it. From her head sprouted two large white wings, and her face was a mask of misery and longing.

They chased the image through a series of hallways for a good five minutes, twisting around so many times that Sakura was sure they were all thoroughly lost. At last, they reached a dead end, the girl standing resolutely in front of them, however their own reflections stood behind her and she inside of the mirror.

Sakura stepped up, and carefully tapped the mirror with her staff, the image of her staff head going right through the girl as if she were some opaque ghost. The strange girl looked down and watched the action, before returning her gaze to Sakura with a sudden determination alight in her sad eyes.

“Who are you?” Yue demanded, sweeping Sakura and the non-magical pair behind himself with one large wing in case the stranger decided to attack. “Why do you feel like Clow?”

“How do we reach her?” Sakura wondered, looking at her from around Yue's wing.

“It can't be...” Touya marvelled.

“Give them back,” the girl ordered. “My friends...” Shadow suddenly glowed a radiant blue as it removed itself from Sakura's card case and flew through the mirror to float before the girl. It spun where it hovered until it finally came to a stop and faded into nothingness.

Now determined to deal with this obvious threat, Sakura withdrew Wood from her deck and set it before herself. “WOOD!” she cried, and a tangle of vines burst from the card and shot towards the mirror. However, instead of penetrating or breaking the mirror, they bounced off for a moment, rickashaying back towards Sakura.

Seeing this, Touya dove, knocking both girls beneath himself for protection. Therefore, it was only out of the corner of her eye that Sakura saw Wood return itself to its card and slip after Shadow into the mirror. “Ah!” Sakura cried, desperately trying to reach out and grasp her beloved card despite it already being on the other side of the mirror.

Yue pulled back on his magic missile, prepared to let loose a barrage of attacks, but before he got his chance, the girl and the stolen cards vanished without a trace. “She's gone...” Sakura whispered, putting her hand to the now normal, empty mirror.

“Yes, the presence is gone as well...” Yue confirmed, scanning the area for any trace of where the assailant may have gone. Finding none, they had no choice but to give up and go home.

* * *

The walk home had been a quiet and oppressing affair, in which Sakura had guessed the fate of Glow and Erase before Kero had even announced his failure to find either of them anywhere in the upturned house. Rather than be upset at the mess when he returned from work, Fujitaka had helped Kero to move furniture around and search the house from top to bottom once he had been told what was going on.

Though Fujitaka had no memories of his life as Clow Reed, the cards and Guardians had remained imbedded in his mind somehow as important things that he had to take care of as he would his own two children, therefore the knowledge that two of them had gotten lost left him ill at ease and determined to find them back again. When they entered to find Fujitaka and Kero in the living room, Kero was the first to relay how the hours apart from each other had been spent, and then Sakura told her side of the story.

“What?! The cards were stolen from you!? By who? Yue, how could you let this happen!?” Kero blew up, partially overreacting.

“It was a small girl with long hair...” Sakura attempted to describe.

“A girl?!” Kero mimicked incredulously.

Sakura curled in on herself in shame and sorrow as she attempted to find the words to describe the impossible. “But that presence was... It couldn't be...” she was interrupted by the ringing of her cellphone and moved to go answer it.

“Who could it be, during an emergency like this?” Kero complained, half wanting to tell Sakura to just ignore it and let it ring.

“Yes, Sakura here,” she said as she held the phone to her ear.

The voice on the other side was calm, cool, and so refreshingly, mind-bogglingly familiar that it almost made Sakura cry to just hear it. //It's been a while, Sakura-san.//

“Eriol-kun?!”

//I'm calling in regard to the letter you wrote,// he continued smoothly, ever so polite, that the sound of his voice began to put her at ease. //The presence you mentioned makes me concerned. Could you elaborate on it?//

“Well, yes. Yue-san and I felt it again today at the amusement park. We followed it and it lead us to a strange girl who stole my cards...” Sakura explained.

//A girl, you say? With long wavy hair and a sad face?// Eriol asked over the phone, a hint of unease tingeing his voice.

“Yes, that's the one,” the Card Mistress confirmed.

Eriol gave a sigh, and when he spoke again his voice held a tone of resignation to it. //I see. It is as I feared, then. What you saw just now is none other than Clow Reed's Deck Master.//

“Deck Master...?” Sakura parroted, confused by the unfamiliar term.

//Yes, a Clow Card. A very special one. It seems as though when you finished changing all the cards into Sakura Cards it caused her to awaken,// the reincarnation explained.

“What exactly does this special card do?” Sakura asked. She was vaguely aware of Kero hovering by her head, listening in on the conversation while Yue, Touya, and Fujitaka sat in the background and waited patiently and quietly for her conversation to end.

//It is The Void, Clow Reed's most powerful card, an imprint of his heart for the purpose of keeping the other cards in line when he could not be with them,// the tone of Eriol's voice could have been her father's when lecturing on history, if it weren't for the unmistakable child's pitch that his stunted growth could not conceal. //In sealed form, the Clow Cards cannot see or hear, their only way of knowing what's going on around them is by sensing the will of their Master. However, if left unattended for any length of time, the cards will become restless and begin activating for themselves. That is the purpose of creating a Deck Master.//

“In order to do what?” Sakura asked, not quite sure she had grasped the concept of what he was talking about just yet.

//In order to fool the cards into believing their Master is attending to them. It is the Deck Master's duty to keep all the sealed cards in line. I fear Void has grown restless without a duty to preform and so intends to subdue the cards by force.//

“That's horrible!” Sakura exclaimed. “Then how do I capture her if she steals all my cards every time I try and use them?”

//Did you not already have a trial where you had to make the cards obey you when someone else was telling them to do other things?// Eriol reminded, with a hint of something between pride and amusement tingeing his voice.

“So all I have to do is get control back?” the brunette verified.

//In order to use the cards against her, yes. They will listen to the Mistress who bears the greatest will to control them,// Eriol informed, returning to his mentoring tone of voice. //However, in order to capture her, that is not enough. She is a Deck Master, the imprinting of the Master's heart. If you wish to make her your Deck Master, then you must give to her your strongest feelings so that they may become hers as well.//

“My strongest...” Sakura trailed off, mind racing back to The Judgement and the horridly lonely vision she had seen as a result of her loosing.

“Chotto, chotto!” Kero spoke up instead, calling into the phone from a few inches away. “Wasn't there only 19 cards? What's the deal of having one more?! Why didn't I know about this card?!”

//I am sorry, Cerberus. Because this card was not part of The Judgement, Clow Reed altered your memories so that you would not seek her out. He did not want Sakura-san to face this card before she was ready,// Eriol explained, not seeming the least bit surprised to hear Kero's voice over her cellphone.

“So... so I'm ready now?” Sakura asked, seeking confirmation in order to boost her confidence in the situation.

//I'm afraid you'll have to be. The only other option is to let her take your cards,// was Eriol's disheartening reply.

Sakura shook her head ever so slightly without realizing it. “No... my friends...”

//But Sakura-san, you need to be careful. This card has more than just the ability to take your cards from you. Void's real power is--//

When his sentence didn't continue after a moment, Sakura called out to him. “Eh? Real power is what? Eriol-kun? Eriol-kun??” For a long moment she listened, but finally hung up in defeat once the phone began beeping at her, proving the line was dead.

“Hey, what's going on?” Touya demanded as he saw her put her cellphone down.

“The line's been cut...” was all she responded with.

* * *

On the far side of the Eurasian continent, on another island nation, a different family of oddities sat in a different living room surrounding the telephone. “It was cut off?” the black winged beast questioned the boy who had just put the receiver down.

Eriol leaned his head back and gave a tired sigh. “Yes.”

“Eriol...” Kaho began, but let the question hang unspoken in the air. 

Reaching up and rubbing his tired eyes beneath his glasses, the ancient spirit answered. “Yes, Void noticed me contacting Sakura-san and so removed the connection. Please, Sakura-san... Discover her other power before it's too late and she takes everything away from you...”

Reaching over to lay a hand on the small shoulder, Kaho used her thumb to rub soothing circles against Eriol's collarbone. “Do you know what the outcome of this will be, Eriol?”

The sorcerer slowly shook his head. “I know what it would have been, but my power has been cut too low, I cannot see Sakura-san's future any longer.” This was all his fault, if only he hadn't have been so impatient then sweet little Sakura wouldn't be facing this danger before her time.

“Please don't worry about it, Eriol! It's Sakura, so I'm sure everything will be fine!” Nakuru attempted to cheer him up, plastering a smile on her face for his benefit.

“Nakuru is correct. There is no point fretting over something that is out of your hands,” Kaho counselled. “After all, Sakura-chan does have an unbeatable phrase...”

With one last sigh, Eriol smiled a strained and worried smile at his assembled family. “Yes... of course, you are right.”

* * *

The following day was the day of the Nadeshiko Festival, the streets were full of people already enjoying the festivities even though it was still before lunch time. Class 5-2 was hard at work, having a dress rehearsal in the classroom to verify that everyone was indeed ready. They were nearly complete, which was fine with Sakura because she was hungry. She had stayed up so late worrying about what would happen with the Void card that she had only gotten a few hours of sleep, then she had slept in so late that she hadn't had time to do more than grab a slice of toast on her way out the door.

She had still shown up to rehearsal nearly 5 minutes late as it was, and now she knelt before Yamazaki, as she had so many times these last few weeks, reciting the last of her lines before it was time to take their break. “Why did this have to happen? To die protecting me... there is no happiness for me if you are not here! I wish I had told you how I feel... how I truly feel...”

With that last line uttered, the class erupted into applause. “This is the first time I've seen it in full, but it was very well written. You did a wonderful job, everyone,” complimented Terada.

“All of you were very good!” Naoko praised.

“I'm only sleeping, the one who's good is Kinomoto-san!” Yamazaki humbly insisted. “By the way, speaking of sleep...”

Chiharu interrupted her boyfriend's newest story by coming up and pushing him aside. “You acted with lots of emotion, Sakura-chan! It was really good!”

Blushing slightly, Sakura accepted the compliment. “Thank you.” Truth be told, it wasn't so hard to act lonely and heartbroken when so much was looming just on the horizon.

“Alright, is everyone ready for the performance tonight?” Terada asked, resuming his leadership role. “We should all do our best for the festival.”

He received the usual chorus of agreement from the class and the class disbanded for the usual post-rehearsal cleanup.

* * *

During her lunch break, Sakura managed to sneak away from her friends in order to make a call. She wanted to hear his voice, even if for a minute. She hoped she wasn't too big a hassle, but she didn't think she could stand it any longer.

//A twentieth card?// Syaoran's voice reached her ear over the receiver after she had finished filling him in on everything that had been happening as of late.

“It's apparently what Yue and I saw at the amusement park yesterday...” she explained weakly.

//Did you also ask what you should do?//

“I'm supposed to turn it into a Sakura Card as well. But to do that... I need to exchange the feeling that's held most dear. During the Final Judgement of the Clow Cards, I saw a world that had no feelings of love. It was such a lonely world... I never want to see that again. I absolutely don't want to see something that sad!” Sakura tearfully informed.

There was a long silence from the other end of the line before Syaoran's voice came back to her sounding tense. //There is no other way?//

“I don't know. Eriol-kun's phone call was cut short,” the Card Mistress admitted.

//...But if there really is no other way... you can't do anything about it.// His tone was defeated, yet held a strange sort of determination behind his words. A determination that broke her heart to hear spoken with so much acceptance.

“Syaoran-kun... You don't care if your dearest feeling disappears?” she accused, near hysterics. 

//If the alternative is a disaster...// Syaoran attempted to explain his point, but how to explain a lifetime of being raised putting others before yourself to a heartbroken girl who just wanted the one she loved to express some sort of longing for her in return?

Angry at him, angry at herself for needing him so much right now, Sakura hung up. She choked back a sob, positive by his ease at giving up love that he surely couldn't return her feelings. If he did, he wouldn't have been so ready to throw her feelings away like that, right? Unable to face anyone right now, Sakura fled from the school grounds, running as hard and fast as she could manage. She had to get away, get some space, clear her head and find some sort of solution that wouldn't result in her losing her heart.

In her blind dash, she didn't see the figure before her until she had barrelled right into it. Delicate yet strong arms encircled her as she began to tumble backwards into the ground. Familiar arms, comforting arms. She knew who's embrace she was in before she even turned her head to look and see the face, for his arms were just the same as those of his other self. “Ah! I'm sorry!” Sakura mumbled hurriedly into his shirt.

“Are you all right, Sakura-chan?” Yukito's gentle voice replied.

* * *

The King Penguin Park was a refuge for moments like this. This is where she had come with Syaoran to lament her broken heart over Yukito. She supposed it was irony that she found herself secreted away here once more with Yukito to cry her pain away involving Syaoran breaking her heart. They had walked to a secluded part of the park, off the main trails, and were sitting beneath a large oak tree.

“Would I trouble you if I asked what was wrong?” Yukito prompted, concerned for the one he saw as a little sister. He hadn't known initially what had made him decide to leave Touya's side and wander in the direction he had, but the moment he noticed Sakura's tears he understood that Yue was the one behind the action. 

Sakura didn't respond to the question, just continued to stare miserably at the ground and sniff from time to time. “Is it something I can't ask about?” Yukito questioned, a feeling of rejection and inadequacy bubbled up inside, despite his logical mind saying that sometimes people just don't  want to talk about things that are bothering them. Still, the worry was mounting in his chest to suffocating levels as the Card Mistress continued to ignore the questions. “Or would you rather talk to my other self?”

This got a reaction, dazed and confused, and a little unsure if she had really heard right, Sakura looked up at her brother's boyfriend. “Eh?”

“My other self is very worried about you...” Yukito explained. A look in her eyes hinted at a thought crossing her mind on how unlikely it is that the emotionless Yue would really act like that. Yukito just smiled sadly and announced, “I'll switch.”

His last thoughts as he fell into a slumber was that it really wasn't too surprising that Sakura would choose the Guardian who was bound to her over himself. After all, he was just some flimsy fake mask that existed because his true self wasn't quite ready to cast him aside yet. Why would Sakura want something like that when she could have the real him instead?

Yue opened his eyes as Yukito fell into the recesses of his mind, waiting until he would be called forward again, and greeted his Mistress with an almost embarrassed, “I wouldn't say 'very'...”

Since Yue had come out just for her, Sakura felt she had little choice but to explain her side of everything. The beautiful angel listened with a devoted attention that most people would never experience in their respective lifetimes. Her every syllable was like life and death to Yue, in the sort of way that only his blind need to serve could accomplish.

When she had finally finished her tale, Yue gave a slow nod. “I see. Why must you always end up in tough situations?” he demanded of no one, frustrated for her sake alone.

“It's not just me. Everyone's the same. I'm sure that Syaoran-kun is as well...” Sakura reasoned now that she had calmed down again. She just hoped Syaoran wasn't too hurt by her hanging up on him like that. It was awfully rude.

“The Deck Master was something Clow created. Clow never made anything that causes only harm to the world,” Yue reasoned.

“Yeah...” was all Sakura could bring herself to say. 

“There has to be some way... A way to not lose your dearest feeling. I'm sure you can do it. It's alright,” whether his words themselves were comforting, or merely the effort he put into making her happy, Sakura couldn't say. But the truth remained that she did feel comforted by those words. She ignored the devotion Yue still held to his old Master, she knew that love wasn't something so easily given up and she had seen enough of her Guardian's behaviour to know that both Yue and Kero still loved Clow very much. 

And that was it. She knew in watching him that love wasn't something that would simply vanish one day because the person you love is gone, or because some spell made it like that. Love was more powerful than that, and she just had to believe in that power and everything would be alright. Giving her beloved Moon Guardian a true smile, Sakura expressed everything she felt for him simply because he existed. “...Thank you...”

* * *

 

Well, there you have it. First half of the movie in 28 pages of writing. Honestly I'm not really happy with the date scene, I was pushing it too hard and to me it just doesn't seem completely in-character or to really flow nicely. But you see, Yukito does have that teasing side to him that he only uses with Touya, and I believe the concerns they both have would be reasonable. But as an asexual, people being flirtatious with each other is not a natural part of my existance. The romance I do is usually the quiet, deep sort where acts of affection are the basis rather than words to excite and entice. The stuff people say in the movies all seems rather dumb to me, and doesn't really fit the relationship that Yuki and To-ya have. If anyone has any suggestions on how to write a teasing flirt, I'd be willing to go back and change the poorly writen stuff. 

 

 

 


	5. Chapter Four: The Deck Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Clow Reed's Deck Master steals away Sakura's Cards, friends, and even city, she decides that she must make a stand no matter the cost to herself. For the sake of everyone's happy future, Sakura must team up with her father in the final showdown against The Void. 
> 
> This story is complete, save for a side story that has yet to be finished.

Birth of the Deck Master

Prequel to Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Chapter Four: The Deck Master

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is owned by the four lovely ladies of CLAMP and was originally published by Kodansha comics.

* * *

The stage hands had just left on another prop-run to the outdoor theatre that had been built for this evening’s events. Within the room there was currently only Sakura, who was undergoing a final fitting for her dress, Tomoyo, who was putting on the last touches, and Kero, who was sitting with his lower half sill in Sakura's backpack.

“It's finally time...” Kero said with an edge of excitement to his voice.

“I'm getting nervous...” Sakura admitted, fiddling with the frills of her long skirt. 

“I hope lots of people come to watch...” Tomoyo said, pulling the soft pink fabric from Sakura's nervous fingers so she could sew the hem properly.

“But to think there was another Clow Card left...” the Sun Guardian pondered out loud, mind drifting back to what Eriol had revealed the night before. 

Sakura made a quiet noise of acknowledgement, looking rather disheartened by the reminder. Tomoyo must have picked up on it, because she pointed out, “Sakura-chan, you look a little pale..”

“It looks like you didn't sleep much last night. Are you alright?” Kero joined in with pressing her.

“Mmm...” the sorceress responded, nodding her affirmative. 

Ever the perceptive, Tomoyo hazarded a guess at what could have Sakura in such a mood. “Did you speak with Li-kun about what's going on?”

Flushing slightly, as was normal when he was brought up, Sakura also looked nervous and guilty as she responded. “Y-yeah.”

Before any details could be expanded on, a noise from the hall gained everyone's attention. “Is that all?” Yamazaki's voice asked from the other side of the door.

“Thanks for the hard work!” Naoko responded.

At once, Kero dived back into the seclusion of Sakura's bag, only to pop back out a split second later as a card flew from it without warning. “This presence...” Kero began, rushing along with Sakura and Tomoyo to look out the window.

“It's the Void!” the Card Mistress confirmed, eyeing the odd black orb hanging in the sky ominously. Suddenly, several further orbs materialized around the school grounds, crackling and rumbling with power. Sakura watched in minor horror as the contents of the orbs dissolved away into nothingness.

From outside the room, a commotion could be heard from the returning students. “What's that noise?” Hikari's voice reached the room.

“Let's go see!” Rei responded.

Panicking, Sakura turned to her Guardian, order on the tip of her tongue. “Kero-chan, hide!”

Kero looked around hurriedly, but the bag he had been residing in was on the other side of the room. Orders overriding logic, Kero began to move towards Sakura's backpack just as the door began to open. Thinking fast, Tomoyo reached out and snatched Kero up, tucking him in the crock of her arm as if he were some cute toy.

“Is everything alright?”Yamazaki questioned, a concern crease to his brow as he eyed the slightly panicked way both the girls were hovering over by the window.

“Yes,” Sakura insisted, trying to act natural so not to draw attention to the near slip-up with her magical protector. 

It was clear by the concerned looks on their classmates faces that Sakura wasn't fully believed, but an excuse for her state was quickly provided as Naoko approached and looked out the window they had been standing next to. “Part of the school yard is missing!”

“There's a huge hole out there. What could have happened?” Rika exclaimed, coming to see for herself. 

This was all the prompting needed as the rest of the students gathered round to stare out the window and gape. Tomoyo took the opportunity to slip over to where the bags were and let Kero fulfil the order he had been given.

“More strange things are happening again?” Chiharu wondered aloud, coming and clinging to Yamazaki's side almost unconsciously. He placed a hand reassuringly on her back and looked with a grave determination towards the potential danger. 

It was then that the music teacher stuck her head into the room and called Tomoyo's attention. “Daidouji-chan, the choir is preparing to leave.”

Starting ever so slightly at the reminder of her other duties, Tomoyo nodded smartly. “Right! I'm coming! Good luck, Sakura-chan, Yamazaki-kun!” she called over her shoulder as she hurried out after the instructor.

There was a general consent in response, and then the seamstress was gone.

* * *

Most the student body had taken the rumbling to be a minor earthquake and put it aside none-the-wiser. The rainy skies had cleared up in the evening, leaving a damp but starry night to hold the performance on. The school choir had agreed to participate in a number of opening songs before the show began in earnest to amuse the gathering crowds. Being the little song bird she was, Tomoyo was selected to preform a number of solo segments, which was where she was at present.

Sakura sat before a full-length mirror within her private dressing room, mind not even any longer on the play she was to be preforming in less than half an hour. All Sakura was aware of at the moment was the looming threat of this new Clow Card, this Deck Master, and everything that it meant to have to capture it.

Floating behind her, Kero held a brush and pulled it rhythmically through her hair, trying to be as soothing as he could manage. “After what happened at school, you can't let your guard down. It's obvious those missing things were the Void's doing, now.”

“Yeah.”

“It would be good to know where the card is lurking at least...” the Guardian continued, bobbing softly as he moved the large brush that was as big as himself over her short brown hair again and again.

Just then the door to the room opened and in slipped Tomoyo, holding a boucay of flowers. She put them down hurriedly on a nearby table and moved forward to help Kero fuss over her cousin. “Sorry to make you wait!”

“That was fast...” Sakura commented, Tomoyo hadn't been gone more than twenty minutes at the most.

“Of course! If I couldn't put the finishing touches on my Sakura-hime-chan masterpiece, I'd regret it the rest of my life!” the black haired girl responded as if it were obvious.

“You'd regret something like that the rest of your life?” Kero questioned, not quite believing it.

“To each their own,” the long haired girl brushed the question off easily. “One must live each day so that there are no regrets.” Conceding to her point, Kero floated back and perched on top of a clothes hanger to watch instead.

Tomoyo was just finishing up straitening the last of Sakura's props when Terada's voice carried from the next room over. “Everyone, it's about time to begin!”

The girls' classmates all chorused out a “Yes!” as Tomoyo turned her attention to her masterpiece. “Looks like you're on.”

“Alright, thanks,” Sakura responded, getting up and heading for the door.

“Break a leg!” Kero told her, and with that she exited the room.

* * *

“Excuse me,” Fujitaka edged his way down the isle, looking for a free seat. The outdoor concert hall that had been built over the last two weeks was absolutely packed. Nearly every seat in the place was taken, and the poor father cursed his luck at having been the one chosen to oversee the university's displays. Spotting a seat a few chairs over, he began to make his way towards it. “Excuse me!”

Noticing the commotion, Daidouji Sonomi looked up from her spot to see her number one most hated person headed her way. “Sensei!?”

Fujitaka blinked in surprise, himself, noticing who was sitting in the spot next to his desired chair. “Sonomi-kun! Oh, is this place free?”

Giving her old teacher a sour look, she unfortunately had to concede the fact that it was. “Yeah.”

He sat down in the empty spot, and Sonomi shifted somewhat to put more distance between them. Feeling the need for polite conversation as they were acquaintances and all, Fujitaka opened the subject with what he figured was probably a polite and appropriate one that resided on neutral grounds. “Were you listening to Tomoyo-san's song?”

Ever eager to rub in her own superiority, Sonomi scoffed at the foolish man sitting to her left. “I recorded it on video, of course!”

“I'd like to see it later,” Fujitaka told her with the smile that she found so very irritating, mainly because it was one of the things Nadeshiko had loved so much.

An uneasy silence descended upon the two of them for nearly a minute as Sonomi found no reason to need to reply to his last comment and he seemed content with the effort he had made to be cordial. However, after a short time, Sonomi noticed what Fujitaka held within his hand. “Just a camera?” she nearly demanded in horror.

“Yes,” he responded with a smile, holding up the offending camera for inspection.

“Sakura-chan's a princess, the lead role!” she tried to argue, pointing out the obvious absurdity of his choice. When all she was met with was his blank-eyed smile, she rolled her eyes in disgust. “Fine, I'll make you a copy of what I record.” With a definitive snap of her fingers, her private bodyguards—beautiful women in dark suits and sunglasses—stood up from around the audience, shouldering professional film cameras angled at the stage from a number of views. 

Fujitaka, not so used to the way Tomoyo and her mother think, was for a moment rather flabbergasted. Finally, after a moment to gather himself, he managed out “T-thank you.”

Sonomi looked so smug with herself, but Fujitaka found his eyes focusing just past her shoulder where Nadeshiko shook her head sadly in defeat with a sweat-drop from where she hang, giving her much loved cousin and best friend a hug. Fujitaka smiled in sympathy to his dead wife's exasperation, but before he had a chance to say any more the floodlights around the stage started turning on.

Over a P.A. System, one of Sakura and Tomoyo's classmates came on and began introducing the next event. “And now, Tomoeda Elementary Grade 5 Class 2 would like to begin their play: The Magic Stone, written and directed by their very own Yanagisawa Naoko-san.”

A round of applause broke out as the actors for the first scene hurried out and got into position. For a moment the stage was filled with dancing pairs of extras before the floodlights dimmed and the spotlight focused in on Sakura and her maids as they entered the stage.

“It's Sakura-san...” Fujitaka said, an edge of excitement and pride to his otherwise calm voice.

“Sakura-chan!” Sonomi squealed quietly, acting very much the part of the embarrassing parent, but thankfully keeping it down to small gestures and a whispering voice. Fujitaka happily flashed off a few pictures of his little girl with his camera, the light of which distracted Sonomi from the stage and caused her to fume quietly for a moment before she physically pried the offending inferior object from his fingers to stop the god-awful flashing.

On the stage, Sakura made her way over to the throne-like chair sitting by it's self. She sat with a disheartened sigh as her four friends, dressed as maids, encircled her and knelt around her.

“The war with our neighbours over the Magic Stone must wear you out, Hime-sama.” Rika began.

“This is a ball where everyone must wear masks.” Chiharu explained.

“Please enjoy it to your heart's content!” Hikari insisted.

“Thank you, but I'm not a great dancer.” Sakura insisted.

“It's alright! The best way to improve is to dance with a great dancer! Now...” Rei urged.

Pulling Sakura once more to her feet, the girls gently pushed her in the direction of the dance floor. Sakura wandered through the spinning couples, looking around herself before dejectedly moving to the front of the stage and addressing the audience. “No. I can't dance with someone I don't know, after all. And I wonder where the Magic Stone has gone... The Magic Stone, it's said that if you hold it, wonderful powers are yours to command. My country has been fighting it's neighbour for a long time over it. If only there was not such thing as war. And the Magic stone that causes war is probably better off gone than in someone's hands.”

“Indeed. I agree.” Yamazaki interjected into her monologue, approaching from off to the sidelines.

Sakura feigned a startled jump and moved from him shyly. “May I ask who you are?”

“The etiquette here is not to ask for identities,” he pointed out to her.

“That's right. This is my first time attending a masked ball...” Sakura replied in excuse for her breach of etiquette.

“Mine as well,” Yamazaki confided, a smile gracing his face. 

Sakura returned the smile, bringing her hands to her chin adoringly. “Oh, my!”

“I've forgotten how to dance with every day being so busy. My attendants brought me here today, as I tend to lock myself up,” he explained.

“Myself as well,” Sakura responded empathetically.

This earned her an endearing smile from from Yamazaki in return. “Hating war, first ball, we are quite alike.”

“Yes,” she replied shyly.

“Will you dance with me?” he asked, holding out a hand.

Sakura turned away from him, hiding her cheeks as she confessed, “But dancing is not one of my...”

“I'm not good, either,” Yamazaki was sure to reassure her.

“I am sure to step on your feet,” she expressed worriedly.

But he just held out his arm and smiled gently at her. “Then I will do my best to dodge yours.”

Finding no other excuse not to, Sakura gently laid her hand on his arm and he led her to the middle of the stage for an elegant dance.

* * *

On the outer fringes of the crowd, Yukito and Touya hurried up, still dressed in their uniforms from the parlour they had been working at all day. “It's already started,” Yukito observed, a little disappointed.

Touya took one look at the stage and bristled. “Who's that twerp she's dancing with?” he growled out protectively, cracking his knuckles to add to the intimidating effect.

“Oh really, To-ya! It's just a play...” Yukito scolded.

* * *

The play continued on, generally a great success, pulling at the heartstrings of the audience. “Sakura's a lot better princess than that gaki was last time,” Kero insisted in a whisper from where he sat on Tomoyo's shoulder.

The response he got was a nod and the comment “It's looking good!”

On the stage itself, Sakura and Yamazaki were currently in a gazebo setup where a confrontation was taking place between the two. “You were the prince of the neighbouring country? The country we are fighting?” Sakura demanded, her tone horrified but also heartbroken.

“Hime, do stop crying. A smile suits you more than anyone. Please forgive me for making you so sad. However, I can not stop these feelings. I... I am in love with you,” Yamazaki pleaded, kneeling before her and pouring out his heart so easily. 

“I...” Sakura began, clearly struggling, before forcefully turning from him. “I am unable to respond to your feelings.”

“Do you dislike me?” the prince asked quietly, his tone resigned.

“It's not that!” Sakura insisted turning back to him desperately. “It isn't... that,” she struggled out, miserable. 

“It's great... It's looking good...” Naoko exclaimed in a quiet whisper to her friends, the maids of the play, that stood around her reading along in the script from the opposite side of the stage that Tomoyo was taping on.

“I... I... No, I can not say it. I cannot tell you this feeling I have. No... especially you. Please forget everything about me. Please take me out of your heart,” the princess insisted, fleeing from the gazebo.

“Hime!” Yamazaki called after her. 

However, just as he did there was another powerful rumble, causing many of the floodlights to shatter and pop at the stage. “What?” Sakura asked, looking around herself startled.

Dropping all pretences of acting, Yamazaki moved forward and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Looking a little dazed, Sakura turned her eyes to her friend's boyfriend and nodded. “Yes,” she insisted, though she was still distracted.  _This presence..._

Before Sakura could find a way to excuse herself, Light and Dark flew from the hidden pocket in her dress and off in the direction of the amusement park. Yamazaki was just about to ask what that was when he saw something forming behind Sakura. “Look out!” he cried, grabbing her and jumping away. At the last moment, he turned so that she would land on him instead of vice versa and behind them Sakura saw they had barely avoided being swallowed up by one of those disintegrating orbs.

Horrified cries came from class and audience alike as Chiharu blindly rushed to her beloved's side. “YAMAZAKI-KUN!” she cried out to him. Getting up, Sakura looked down at the boy that had just saved her. He held his arm and grimaced in pain, but smiled bravely up at the girl he loved and her gathering friends.

“Is everyone alright?” he asked, eyes scanning over the assembled girls. The teachers, having been a little farther back, were only now coming onto the stage.

“We're fine!” Chiharu snapped, “We were on the other side of the stage, but what about you?!”

“I-I think I just bumped something...” Yamazaki insisted. 

Amid the worried cooing of his girlfriend, Sakura made her own scan of her friends and to her horror found them one head too short. “Tomoyo-chan? Where is Tomoyo-chan?”

“I'm here!” came the happy call from across the gap cut into the stage. Tomoyo was picking herself up from the floor on the opposite side, dusting off her dress that Sakura noted had Kero's teeth dug into the back of. She could only assume that Kero had pulled a similar act of heroism to Yamazaki and ensured Tomoyo's safety. 

Sighing in relief that everyone was safe, Sakura turned her mind to the cards that had just been taken from her. But no sooner than she had, another orb appeared behind her, dissolving the group that had gathered around Yamazaki into nothingness. But apparently, Void wasn't done there. It began using it's orbs to wipe out large sections of the audience, causing a mass panic in the crowd.

Fujitaka, with his heightened senses, barely managed to pull Sonomi out of the range of one of the orbs, however a few of her bodyguards weren't so lucky. The remaining ones fought loyally to get to their boss, but more and more orbs were popping up, making escape seem impossible.

Fujitaka's eyes, in all the commotion, landed on his son and Yukito. He watched in abject horror as an orb developed with them right at the edge. Touya blindly shoved Yukito out of the way, the Moon Guardian transforming mid fall and gliding up above the chaos.

Fujitaka lunged forward, though he knew he wouldn't make it in time, calling out his son's name even as behind him Sonomi and his wife's ghost were swallowed as well. The horror on Fujitaka's face was mirrored on the usually impassive angel's. Denial, failure to protect, and an overwhelming sense of uselessness surged through Yue, mixing and aligning with Yukito's own rejection of this reality and allowing for the first time the two halves to synchronize. In that moment of combined loss, a bridge was formed between their consciousnesses as they became aware of each other's hearts like never before.

But then, in some back corner of their minds they realized, that Touya and Sakura had been right all along. It wasn't two hearts, but rather one single one, like the light and dark sides of the moon still being the same lunar body. Horrible, that such an event as this was what it took to unify the two shards, Yue landed at Fujitaka's side, looking to the Clow in him with pleading eyes so full of regret and shame.

The Mistress would be so displeased that he had failed to protect her precious brother, he wouldn't be surprised if she cast a useless Guardian like him out in favour of making a replacement as the Eriol-Clow had done. And Fujitaka... though he was not Master like Clow had been, did not know them as Clow had known them, there were still enough remnants there that Yue couldn't help but adore him. But this was his precious, precious child that Yue had failed to protect. Surely Clow would be as livid with him as the Mistress.

But to Yue's minor surprise, the eyes that looked at him were as lost as he was at the moment, a loving being mourning the loss of a beloved child and nothing more. No blame, no ridicule, only sorrow and personal guilt at failing to protect one that he loved. Yue understood the look, as he was feeling much the same way at the moment, and ruffled his wings ever so slightly, unsure what to do with this lack of reprimand towards his failure.

Turning away as the last of the orbs in the area vanished, Yue moved to his Mistress's side, intent to make himself useful, though he held himself with the shame of failure. “Sakura! Are you all right?!” Cerberus called, carrying Tomoyo on his back as he landed opposite his mirror.

“Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo called in relief.

“Everyone!” Fujitaka stepped up a moment later, tears on his cheeks for his son, but a sort of odd, grim determination as he focused his attentions on his daughter instead. 

“Everyone has disappeared on our end as well. This must be the doing of Clow's Deck Master,” Yue informed.

“It looks like it,” Cerberus agreed with a nod of his large feline head.

Sakura already had her staff out as she scanned the small group that had managed to survive the danger. “Onii-chan... and my friends... we'll get them back if I seal the card, right?” she asked the group as a whole.

Both Guardians nodded once in response. “That is how it usually goes...” Cerberus elaborated.

“So long as not too much time goes by,” Yue added.

Fujitaka's fist tightened, his eyes oddly dark. “Then we had best get that card quickly.”

“Otou-san!!” Sakura exclaimed in surprise. Living with her family among her magic was one thing, but to fight along side them? It was clear that both the Guardians shared her sentiments as they shuffled uncomfortably at the suggestion.

“I will go with you,” Fujitaka insisted, his voice leaving no room for dispute. Something in the way he said it must have been very Clow like, for both the Guardians made an obedient semi-bow, accepting whatever order it was he had given them. Sakura knew from experience with such gestures that Yue especially would blindly pursue the objective until Sakura herself gave a direct order for them to stop. 

“Then please, wear this?” Tomoyo requested, producing a stylized pink marching band uniform from gods know where. 

“To-Tomoyo-chan?” Sakura blanched, looking at the outfit in confusion.

“At a time like this...” Yue began in an exasperated tone.

“I would like her to wear it because it is a time like this,” Tomoyo explained to the Moon Guardian. “I have saved all the costumes that Sakura-chan has worn in the past. She always returned with a smile, no matter what happened, together with the costume that I made. So I'm sure she'll come back safe and sound this time, too.”

Touched by the speech, Sakura accepted the offered outfit.“Tomoyo-chan... I'll do my best to come back with the clothes that you made me. I promise.”

“Everyone please come back safely so we can take a souvenir photo with the new card!” the black haired girl insisted.

“Right!” Sakura and Cerberus cheered. Yue rolled his eyes in exasperation, but a ghost of a smile still graced his lips. 

“Of course,” Fujitaka chimed in agreement. He looked down at the children with the eyes of a loving parent, and swore within his own mind that he would find a way to protect his daughter and get his son back, no matter the costs.

* * *

The devastation to the quite little suburban town of Tomoeda was horridly apparent from where they had congregated atop a building. Large chunks of the city were missing, the streets were silent and no remnants of the celebrating masses were left visible.

“How horrible,” Cerberus grumbled. “We have to hurry and find that card.”

“It's not that far away. I am sure it is somewhere within this neighbourhood,” Yue insisted, scanning the devastation with a calculating air.

“But where should you look?” Tomoyo questioned, scanning the horizon with her camera. She paused on the distant amusement park when she noticed the lights were still on there and there alone. She was about to bring it up when a cry from Sakura surprised her.

Tomoyo turned to see the tail end of another few cards flying unbidden from Sakura's deck. “Again?! The Key which hides the power of the Stars! Show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under contract, Release! WINDY!”

Windy burst forth from her card, racing forward before the cards and attempting to blow them back to their proper Mistress. The cards fluttered, spinning wildly under the force of the gust, before righting themselves and continuing on despite Windy's efforts. Then the gentle wind spirit heard the voice calling as well. The much loved Master and Creator that existed within the recesses of her memory was reaching out for her, calling her home. She missed this Master, and happily went to see him once more.

“Why...?” Sakura cried in frustration as even her oldest card left her. But her attention was quickly diverted as another rumble erupted from the source of the Void's power and the corner of the building her friend stood upon was engulfed in yet another orb. “TOMOYO-CHAN!!”

Thinking fast, Fujitaka caught his daughter around the midsection as she lunged herself at her vanishing cousin. “You can't! I am sorry, Sakura-san, but even for Tomoyo-san you can't. You are the only one who can tame this card.”

Looking at the empty space that once held her biggest fan, Sakura made a vow. “Please wait! We'll get everything back to normal!”

“Sakura, I figured it out. I know where The Void is,” Cerberus announced.

“Where?” the Card Mistress demanded.

Yue stepped on the other side of Sakura and Fujitaka and calmly pointed at the lights in the distance. “The place the cards flew to.”

“...The amusement park...?” Sakura wondered, eyeing the location. She then pulled what remained of her deck out of her pocket and looked at them. “I have five cards left.”

* * *

Suspended high over the city streets by a pair of luminescent silvery wings, Sakura let herself be carried within the safety of Yue's gentle arms. Her father road astride Cerberus's mighty form as the winged puma glided on ahead of herself and his brother. All four sets of eyes were scanning the grounds for any sign of the card.

“I feel it. The presence of the Clow Card. I'm sure it's here somewhere,” Sakura assured, her voice tight and tense. 

Yue swooped down and set Sakura on her feet to free up his hands, and Cerberus quickly followed suit, taking his lead from Yue. Fujitaka slid off Cerberus's back taking a few tentative steps away in order to give the beast a chance to manoeuvre if he must.

Suddenly the sound of fair music erupted form the rides that all began turning on of their own accord, and a mass of multicoloured balloons elevated themselves towards freedom as they filled the sky in a dance of colourful orbs. Detracted by the spectacle, Sakura didn't see the branches of the nearby shrubbery lash out suddenly in her direction.

Yue leaped between them, erecting a shield around himself and his Mistress, defending her against Wood's sudden attack. “It's doing this...” Yue stated looking at the snapped branches that had been deflected by his quick actions.

The next attack against Sakura was far more effective as Erase removed the supports on the pirate ship attraction and sent the whole boat down on their heads.

“JUMP!” Sakura cried, leaping away from the descending mass, Yue dodging in the opposite direction a split second later. Sakura landed on the nearby roller coaster track, only to hear a strange clicking noise. Turning in it's direction she saw a light ascending upwards. “Hoe? What's next? How... ”

About the same moment that Sakura realized that roller coaster car was headed in her direction, Void wrestled control of Jump from her and stole it away. In a last ditch effort, Sakura cried out “WATERY!” and summoned forth the combative elemental who charged forward and slammed full force into the car, holding it back from injuring her Mistress.

Bearing fangs and hissing like some demonic nymph, Watery's stubborn nature fought boldly against both car and Void's insistent calling. Discovering that she was at a loss, Void materialized in order to better subdue the fighting spirit of one of the main cards.

“There it is!” Cerberus cried out.

“Sakura-san! Be careful!” Fujitaka warned.

Sakura didn't seem to hear him, however, because all her attention was focused on the Void. “You're... You're Clow Reed's Deck Master, right? Why? Why are you doing this?”

Rather than answer Sakura's inquiry, Void summoned forth Thunder and sent it after Watery. “Four more.” With a screech of pain, Watery lost it's focus and was quickly called back to Void along with Thunder. Having nothing holding it back any longer, the roller coaster car sped towards Sakura and knocked the Card Mistress from the track.

Cerberus caught Sakura and her wand as they plummeted, earning a relieved “Kero-chan!” from her for his efforts.

“Is talking to it useless?!” Yue cried out in frustration. His Mistress, his underlings, his lover... this card was hurting them all! Letting loose a barrage of attacks, they simply vanished into the shell that Void stood within. 

“Please! Return everyone!” Sakura begged desperately at the card.

“It's no good! Look out!” Fujitaka cried as Watery ploughed Sakura and Cerberus into the ground.

Yue pulled back on a magic missile, focusing a large quantity of his magic into that single attack. Void turned her empty eyes on him, encasing even Yue in one of the orbs. “Yue-san!” Sakura's voice reached him in a cry of concern and fear.

Yue took only a split second to take in his predicament before letting loose his attack all the same. He remained part of reality just long enough to witness his attack fail before fading into nothingness. Cerberus took to the air in rage at his brother's defeat, letting loose a barrage of flames that engulfed Void's sphere completely. But within Void was calm and resolute, responding with only taking Cerberus as well.

“Kero-chan!!” Sakura screamed in horror. 

“It's no good. Their power isn't working against it at all...” Fujitaka bemoaned.

She didn't know it would feel like this. She didn't know that she would feel them vanish. That it would feel like her own soul was unravelling from within her. Her focus was shattered, her mind felt like it would follow her soul in unravelling if she couldn't find something to lock her existence on to. “Kero-chan... Yue-san... why?” she choked out. Everything was falling apart, she had nothing, not even her Cards, not even her Guardians.

Her fingers found their way to her pocket, clutching to the last three friends she had with her. Her thumb brushed across the surface of her nameless card that she had created and in it's presence she seemed to find an anchor to hold on to.  _Don't cry. Syaoran-kun always says don't cry. Calm down and concentrate. It's not done yet. I still have these three. Everything will be alright..._

“The Guardians were also made to bend to the will of Clow Reed. Things created to obey Clow Reed won't work against it,” her father's voice reached her, pulling Sakura back to reality.

“That can't be... That means at this rate, everyone will be gone! What should I do... What should I--...O-Otou-san...?” but when she turned to look to her father for answers, he was no where to be seen. 

* * *

Fujitaka ran in the direction the Deck Master had fled. This card had taken his wife, his son, and now most of his adopted children. He would not be forgiving of his original form's imposter. Merely preforming her duty or not, Fujitaka's children were at stake and he would not fail them again!

_If it was made to subdue those who are submissive to Clow Reed,_ he reasoned,  _then maybe as Clow Reed's reincarnation I can have the power to control it. Just wait, children. I will find a way to save you._

Coming upon the card that had taken refuge within the Ferris wheel, Fujitaka found that now that he needed it, his magic unfurled from within him with surprising ease. Like riding a bike after decades without, the channelling of his magic flowed through him and around him with ease as he summoned forth a gust of wind that lifted him into the air and set him down atop the compartment adjacent to the one Void was currently residing in.

“Return to your sealed form!” Fujitaka commanded without knowing why he chose those words. It just seemed the most natural thing to say in this situation. When the Void did not comply, Fujitaka let loose a bolt of lightning. While most of the attack was deflected by the bubble surrounding the long haired little girl, a few sparks managed to get through. She flinched back from the sparks, looking scared, hurt, and frustrated.

Down below, Sakura approached, having seen the magical display going on from a distance. “Otou-san!!”

“Don't get in my way...” the temperamental card ordered Fujitaka.

“Give me back my son!” Fujitaka retorted. Doubling up his spell work, Fujitaka let lose a spiral of flame that engulfed her protective barrier, damaging it further.

“DON'T GET IN MY WAY!!” Void screamed, exerting her power and extending her orb to swallow Fujitaka inside. Had he been in the possession of all Clow's magic, he would have overpowered Void easily. But with only half the magic, and no real battle experience within his life, Fujitaka too faded from reality.

“Otou-san!” Sakura cried out as she watched her last ally, her father, fade away like everyone else had. “FLY!” she called, taking to the air and looking for some trace of her father, her guardians, anyone to let her know she wasn't alone in the world. “Otou-san! Otou-san... everyone... everyone... is gone. I don't like this at all.” This wasn't worth it. What was the point in keeping hold of her strongest feeling if everyone she loved was gone? Even if it meant that lonely future for her that she had seen during the Final Judgement, if everyone else could come back, then it would all be worth it. 

And then she understood. That was what Syaoran had been saying over the phone. If it meant protecting everyone else from facing this disaster, her own happiness was a price that she could afford to pay. “I won't give up. I will never, ever give up!” she declared, giving chase after the card that had taken so much from her and was about to take even more, with a burning determination. A conviction she had not felt since the time she had faced Eriol in battle.

Sensing some how the difference of intent, Void attempted to flee from the determined Card Mistress. Fleeing through the park, Void summoned forth one card after another. Windy refused to act against Sakura. Firey did little more than singe the tips of Sakura's wings as she outmanoeuvred everything thrown at her. Shadow, likewise, was dodged with little effort as it hesitated to obey every command Void gave it. Erase wouldn't even come out of it's card, and Flower jumped out on it's own to dance in useless circles on the ground below.

Void was quickly loosing control of the situation, with most the cards on the fence willing to sit this one out and wait to see which master was victorious. Disappearing into the clock tower that she had been taking refuge in for over a week now, Void took the opportunity to reassert control over the misbehaving cards and call Flower back to her. By the time she had completed that task, Sakura was steadily flying up the middle of the tower towards her.

Deciding that the misbehaving cards were too poor a source to rely on, Void began letting loose her own attacks with a simple statement. “Two more.”

Still, the determined pursuer dodged every attempt made on her life. When she was over half way up the tall tower, Void ripped control of Fly from her and let the Card Mistress plummet towards her death. Sakura reached out and grabbed at the pendulum she was falling beside. Though the smooth surface wasn't enough to counter her descent, it was enough to slow her fall to the point that when she landed on the large round bottom she was merely bruised rather than broken or dead.

“One more,” Void announced ominously. 

Trapped on the swinging metal disk, Void let loose an attack against the girl. However, Sakura countered it with her last card. “SHIELD!” The power of it was enough to protect Sakura from an instant defeat, but still the attack managed to disintegrate the pole that was supporting her perch.

In a wild leap, Sakura reached the stairs that spiralled up the clock tower even as Shield, her last card, was taken from her. Now all that she had left was herself, her wand, and a nameless card that could not be called upon. But still, everyone was depending on her, and so she began her climb.

Void came down meet her, this thief who dared challenge her for her friends. “And now I have them all.”

Sakura turned on the stairwell, wand out and that determined glint still in her pretty green eyes. “I'll seal you away,” she insisted against all logic.

Void bristled at this. “Thief, do you now understand what it is to loose everything dear to you? Do you understand the emptiness of being all alone?”

“If anyone is a thief it's you! I'll seal you away, and then I'll bring everyone back!” Sakura challenged.

“NO! I've been locked away all this time! In that cold, dark place, the Master never called on me! And then you, thief, came and stole all my friends away... I was so lonely... I finally have my friends back. Why are you interfering?!”

“You can't call them friends! Forcefully making them yours isn't making friends! It's only through their free will choosing to be with you that you are friends! It's not right! It's not!”

Hearing her words, hearing her intent, the waiting cards make their choice. From within Void's bubble, all nineteen of them burst and abandon Void once more, returning to Sakura's side as she is the one who loves them, not subjugates them. “Everyone... why? Do you hate me? I'm not friends with you all? Why?!” Void sobbed out, confused and scared.

And Sakura, with that sweet and gentle light that was hers, felt empathy for the one who had taken everything from her out of misplaced spite. Sakura reached out a hand of compassion and forgiveness. “Everything will surely be all right. Come with me, and let's go join everyone else.”

Void looked at the young Card Mistress like a lost little child, confused and in awe of the faith and gentleness seen within this one insurmountable will. “I won't... be alone?”

“You won't,” Sakura assured. “They all want you to come with them, and I want you to be my friend, too. Return to the guise you were meant to be in. CLOW CARD!”

_I guess I wasn't able... to tell him how I feel, after all..._ Sakura thought as she preformed the ritual that she had so many times since she began her magical adventures over a year before. “Card created by Clow, abandon your old form and reincarnate. Under the name of your new master, Sakura!”

She was prepared. Really she was. To give up her feelings of love... to never have a reason to smile or laugh again... she would give them all to this lonely card if it meant everyone else would be free to live their lives happily. And who knows, maybe she could come to find new love all over again? She was sure that if it were someone like Syaoran, she'd love them again and again no matter how many times she was made to forget. Because love—real love—wasn't something that could just vanish like that.

And then it happened, something so unexpected. Her card, her nameless card that would never be called on, activated. It shined with such blinding intensity that the whole tower exploded in a white light. And when that light faded, both her nameless card and the Void were gone, and in their place hung a fused card with a new name inscribed on it. “Hope...?” Sakura asked, tears running down her cheeks as remnants of the thoughts she had been thinking.

And she heard it, the voice of her new Deck Master. “Don't cry, it's alright. From now on, the future is looking bright!”

As the sun rose, and the rays of light touched the city, Tomoeda and it's people were all returned.

* * *

The Mistress of the Sakura Cards walked tentatively from the clock tower. Her body was bruised and her energy drained, but she had won, and for whatever strange reason she had not lost her feelings for Syaoran, or anyone else. At the doorway she was met with a sight she had been half convinced she would never see again.

Two figures, as alike as a person and their reflection, but as opposite as opposites could be, they stood there looking at her with apprehension and worry. Their radiant white feathered wings rustling in agitation and uncertainty as tears came to their Mistress's eyes. They both bowed in shame before her and recited, “We are sorry Mistress/Sakura, we failed you...”

But Sakura was having none of that. She lunged forward and encircled both their necks in her arms, holding them so close. She feared that if she let them go again she would loose them once more. She knew she was babbling nonsense as she cried into their shoulders, trying to express everything at once.

But they—wonderful them—they seemed to understand as they enveloped her back. She didn't know how long they had stayed like that, the three of them holding on to each other for sanity's sake, but she eventually found the words to explain what it had felt like when they were taken from her.

“Huh, I wasn't aware it went both ways...” Cerberus commented.

“It would make sense, in a way, that it does,” Yue responded.

“Hoe? What goes what way?” Sakura asked, pulling back to look into the slitted pupils of her two Guardians.

“The bond,” Yue said as if it were common knowledge.

Cerberus shot him a look before elaborating on the matter. “Guardians exist to serve and protect our masters. In order to better fulfil that purpose, we Guardians are bound to the Master's soul. We feel through that bond what the Master feels, so to always know when the Master needs us for something, or is in danger.”

“So, our... souls... are tied to each other?”

“Yes,” Yue confirmed. “It ensures obedience.”

“...Wait... so... do all Guardians feel the way I just felt when their Master dies?” 

“Well, sure,” Cerberus shrugged off. 

“What does that matter? It increases our efficiency in serving the Master. That's the only important part...” Yue insisted.

Sakura frowned at this. “The important part is that you are my friends and that you were forced to endure this sort of pain... will again when I die! I don't want that!” she insisted.

Their eyes showed no real comprehension to the statement she was trying to express, but Cerberus nodded anyway, and Yue responded with “If that is the Mistress's wish.”

* * *

Sakura, Tomoyo, Yukito, and Fujitaka approached the location of the Nadeshiko Festival play to find an odd sight. To Fujitaka's eyes, Nadeshiko sat primly on the corner of the cot that Touya slept upon. Yukito rushed forward at once, intent to get to the one he loved and check on him. In the opposite direction ran Sonomi, scooping her precious daughter into a hug.

“You stayed with Touya-san this whole time?” Fujitaka questioned.

“Of course, I did!” Sonomi challenged, sounding all too affronted that he would think otherwise. “He is my Nadeshiko's precious son, after all!”

Fujitaka looked back over at him with a fond smile. “Yes, yes he is.”

Yamazaki found himself bedridden in the hospital for a week after the strange events of that night, with an overprotective girlfriend and an ever-growing fanclub as news of not only his wonderful performance but his heroic deeds in the face of what happened spread like wild fire.

He had a good deal of fun twisting the truth to the point that only those who had been there to witness it had any idea what really went on, but none the less the part about the whole event he liked the most was having Chiharu's attention all to himself.

* * *

The Kinomoto household was as lively as it ever was these days. With curious, playful, helpful, or just plain socializing magical creatures to be found around every corner, Fujitaka had never felt so content. Windy and Firey helped him bake a cake to welcome their newest house member, who was currently out in the living room with Sakura, Flower, and Mirror learning to play boardgames.

Kero could be heard on the game machine upstairs, battling it out against Glow on some fighting game while Shadow, Jump and Erase waited their turns. Illusion, Light, Dark, Maze, Thunder and Wood were all in his study where Illusion was reading to them out of some of the many books Fujitaka kept. Fly was napping on the back of one of the dining room chairs while Watery and Earthy were playing cards at the table. Touya and Yukito had opted to avoid the chaos for a few short hours and had gone on a date somewhere. Sword and Shield, for their parts, had taken it upon themselves to make sure no one interrupted this unusual family gathering.

To Fujitaka, despite the fact that this wasn't normal by any means, this was how things should be. And when things are how they should be, life can't get much better than that.

* * *

Yukito and Touya sat on the park bench, looking up at the full moon. Touya had dozed off again, still suffering from some of the ill effects of losing his magic months before. Yukito wondered if his beloved friend would ever fully get over loosing what he had taken from him.

_Not so much get over it, as get used to it. Given time, it will become the new normal and he will fully adjust._ The voice, not quite his own, came to his mind unbidden.

Yukito jumped slightly, eyes scanning around, though he knew he would find no one. After all, he knew that voice as well as he knew Touya's.  _You're Yue, aren't you..._

_That's right. You don't seem too surprised by it..._ Yue pointed out.

_I've been feeling you ever since that event with the Void card. Though, honestly I've been feeling you for a lot longer, haven't I?_ Yukito questioned.

_Yes. I have been watching what you do all along._

_I used to fear you..._ Yukito admitted,  _I thought that all I was was some fake mask that you had made. But now that I've actually met you, I see that's not it at all, is it?_

_No. The Mistress and your lover are right: you and I, we share a heart—a soul. You are the hidden part of me, just as I am the hidden part of you._

_So what now? I can feel it... You and me, we're blending ever so slowly. We are becoming one..._

_Yes... At one point in time, that thought scared me. I didn't want to change from the person that Master had made, from the person Master had loved. I thought if I was everything Clow desired, I would be the one he loved most. But... he never did. In the end he always chose humans over me, and I couldn't understand why..._

_You were there for him... You did everything for him for hundreds of years. Lived, breathed, and nearly died several times just for him. But... you were his possession, not his equal, so his heart could never belong to you._

_But you, as your own person, have found the love I never could. The Mistress said that it was okay for me to have my own heart and mind. Said she wanted to be friends, not my Mistress..._ Yue remembered.  _I... am not sure I understand what exactly that means, but if it makes Mistress happy, I wish to try._

_Yes, I think that would definitely be worth trying. I used to be so scared of meeting you, like somehow if I met you, you would just snuff me out of existence. But I see now... I see that's not it at all. You and me, we've always been one. Joining together won't be loosing myself, it will be finding it. And in finding it, I'll be gaining you as well._

_You and me..._ Yue thought.

_Becoming one..._ Yukito pondered.

_It might not be so bad after all..._ they shared in unison.

* * *

Eriol was the first to manage to get through to Sakura's phone. He had laughed at her when she had expressed confusion and surprise at still having all her emotions in tact. //Feelings are the sort of special gift that only become bigger the more you give them away,// he had said.

She had proceeded to get mad at him and chew him out over it, as she had spent quite some time worrying about loosing her precious feelings. Afterwards she had called Syaoran and spent a good while talking to him about everything that had happened. They had both apologized repeatedly for how they had acted over the phone the last time they had talked, and had patched up the relationship rather nicely with Syaoran promising to try and visit as soon as he would be able to in order to see this new card for himself.

“Yuki! Kaijuu! Lunch is ready!” a voice called from the kitchen.

“Onii-chan!” Sakura shouted back indignantly, “I am not a Kaijuu!” Yukito just laughed as he and Sakura rose from the couch where they had been watching a movie together. Sakura looked thoughtfully at Yukito for a moment. “Ne, Yukito-san...?”

“Yes, Sakura-chan?”

“Why do you let Onii-chan call you 'Yuki'?” she asked.

Yukito smiled down at her affectionately. “Because, To-ya is someone very dear to me. And besides, he lets me cut characters out of his name...”

“Ano... seeing as Yue-san said that me and you share a soul... do you think maybe I could call you 'Yuki' as well?” she asked shyly.

Yukito gave a nod, “I think we could manage that.”

“And, do you think maybe it would be okay if I asked Yue-san if I could just call him 'Yue'?” Sakura pressed again.

Yukito gave a chuckle and told her, “Yue says he'd like that very much.”

* * *

So that was the second movie, (and immediate follow up) was it to your liking? This part was only 14 pages this time, so it got cut down quite a bit from the previous chapter. I guess dialogue takes up more room than battle scenes? Anyway, so now that these are finished, all I have left are the side story about what's going on with Syaoran over this summer break. I'm still not very far into writing it, I've been focusing more on trying to get the main story done, but it will dabble a bit into his family tree (the Li Clan side, not Yelan's family line) and sorcery culture. Expectations of his Clan, interpersonal relations with other Clans, reference to past wars and power struggles, what his sisters actually *DO* around the compound, and how Syaoran's change of heart and new knowledge affects everything. Also, heads up that in that chapter I'll be using the Chinese spellings of their names as I do in the main storyline. The reason I didn't call Syaoran "Xiao Lang" all through this was because this story takes place in Japan, so it's appropriate to have everyone refer to him and think of him in terms of his Japanese name. I hope you all enjoyed these chapters, please read the continuation of this story, Harry Potter and the Deck Master. Shade and Sweet Water everyone!


End file.
